Googling Candidates' Names Now Exposes All Their Campaign Funding Data

Impact

Campaign finance is a world of special interests, dark money, bad information and spin doctoring. But Google is going to help us shine a little more light on where all that funding is coming from.

As of Tuesday morning, Google is integrating campaign finance data right into search, so all you have to do is punch in a candidate's name, scroll down and you'll get an elementary breakdown of where that candidate's funds have come from so far in this election.

The data is fed into your search results directly from Opensecrets.org, a campaign finance-monitoring website run by the Center for Responsive Politics. Open Secrets features deep analysis and breakdowns of how candidates are receiving their money and from whom.

Campaign finance data is important to have on hand, especially during a primary season when candidates are trading barbs over who's being paid by whom.

Google

Hillary Clinton, for example, has been chastised for taking money from special interest groups — and even from Donald Trump, once upon a time — whereas Sen. Bernie Sanders has funded his campaign almost entirely on individual donations.