8+ out of 10: Too much money in politics

The headline used in our local newspaper this morning for an Associated Press-National Constitution Center poll focused on one of several issued polled: "Poll: Too much money in politics."
    Yes, whichever editor chose the headline, we hear you, brother, and amen.

WASHINGTON—Americans don’t like all the cash that’s going to super political action committees and other outside groups that are pouring millions of dollars into races for president and Congress.

    More than 8 in 10 Americans...support limits on the amount of money given to groups that are trying to influence U.S. elections.
    But they might have to change the Constitution first. The Supreme Court’s 2010 decision in the Citizens United case removed limits on independent campaign spending by businesses and labor unions, calling it a constitutionally protected form of political speech.
...
    The strong support for limiting the amount of money in politics stood alongside another poll finding that shows Americans have a robust view of the right to free speech. Seventy-one percent of the 1,006 adults in the AP-NCC poll said people should have the right to say what they please, even if their positions are deeply offensive to others.
    The ringing endorsement of First Amendment freedoms matched the public’s view of the Constitution as an enduring document, even as Americans hold the institutions of government, other than the military, in very low regard.

    The question for a government of, by, and for The People, of course, is: What difference is public opinion going to make?
    Probably not much in the short term.
    But how long, oh, how long, must The People wait?

The poll was not limited to money in politics. It included questions on the following:
    governmental benefits for same-sex couples (6 in 10 Americans favor them),
    gay marriage (support increasing from 46 percent to 53 percent over the past three years, and opposition declining from 53 percent to 42 percent),
    legal protection for minorities' voting rights (a slight increase),
    gun control (little change), and
    President Barack Obama’s health care overhaul (little change).