Who contributes? Checkbook participation, class biases, and the impact of legal reforms, 1952-1994

The changing demographic trends of voter turnout have been a Focus of great debate. Nevertheless less, voter turnout is only one avenue through which citizens participate in electoral politics. Although the number of citizens voting may have declined since the 1960s, other forms of participation suc h as financial contributions, have increased in terms of the number of citi zens engaging in such activity. We find that although class biases in finan cial conditions are great within each election, these biases demonstrate no consistent trend toward increased or decreased class biases in financial c ontributions. The extent to which any specific election is skewed along eco nomic class lines results largely from the behavior of those at the highest income levels. Finally, we find little empirical support that legal reform s designed to increase the base of campaign contributions have had any sign ificant impact on who contributes.