The president's cash millionaire is over.
joe biden and donald trump They have raised less money than past presidential candidates, and both have spent large amounts of money to shore up their weaknesses.
Biden has spent millions of dollars on advertising, but so far he has been unable to stem his slide in the polls. And with his financial situation even worse, Trump has blown tens of millions of dollars in legal fees to continue his campaign and avoid possible prison time. Sentence.
Biden's $56 million in cash on hand heading into this month, combined with Trump's $30.5 million, is less than Trump alone's $92.6 million in cash on hand this time four years ago.
Candidates are still raising millions of dollars, with Biden raising $15.7 million in January, an eye-popping drop from previous cycles that saw a surge as online donations became more common. That amount is gone. Donor fatigue, especially among the online small donors who powered Biden and Trump in 2020, means campaigns must maintain tight budgets.
This, combined with the fact that the candidates' biggest flaws are eating into their reserves, raises the prospect of a cash crunch in the summer and into the fall once the general election gets underway in earnest. . So rather than expanding more ambitious campaign goals or experimenting with innovative but unproven ways to reach new voters, campaigns are targeting a smaller-than-usual list of battleground states. may be forced to do so.
Mr. Biden has at least increased his cash reserves, outpacing nominal primary opposition and adding $10 million to his campaign's total cash reserves last month. But the latest campaign finance filings with the Federal Election Commission on Tuesday show that Mr. Trump remains ahead of Mr. Biden so far this election. Mr. Biden has also been spending campaign funds on advertising in an effort to improve his sluggish poll numbers, but so far no results have been achieved.
How far behind Trump is Biden in 2020? By this point four years ago, Trump had raised $229 million for his campaign. The Biden campaign raised $70 million. Mr. Trump had spent $153.9 million by January 2020, while Mr. Biden, who lagged behind, had spent only $62.8 million.
At this point in 2012, without adjusting for inflation, Mr. Biden said his former boss, then-President Barack Obama, would have more in procurement ($151.3 million), spending ($144.1 million), and cash on hand ( ($76 million).
Of course, campaigning has changed over time, and the rise of groups like super PACs, leadership PACs, and joint fundraising committees has made candidates' political activities much more complex. Tuesday's filings show that the full scope of campaign activity may remain elusive, especially given arcane rules about when and how often some of these groups disclose their finances.
Trump is also running out of money, even though he doesn't face a particularly competitive primary. Trump's campaign ended January with $2.6 million less than it started the month with, as his financial institutions are being forced to cover the former president's legal costs.
President Trump's leadership PAC, Save America, added an additional $4.8 million in legal fees paid and unpaid in January, on top of the roughly $50 million it spent on lawyers last year. Trump faced no such legal jeopardy.
So far, he hasn't needed these ads to fend off his Republican opponents. Among them is former South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley, who remains in the race but lost in a landslide to Trump in her home state on Saturday. But general elections are different. Television advertising is effective when there is a significant disparity between the candidates delivering the message.
Mr. Biden and the Democratic National Committee have already spent more than $20 million on advertising in the past six months, mostly in battleground states. But the president's poll numbers have not changed. In fact, compared to national survey data, the results in battleground states are worse than they were before the advertising campaign began.
Biden has better fiscal health than Trump, but he still lags behind recent history compared to incumbents. But the finances of both candidates could hamper their campaigns this fall or make them even more reliant on wealthy super PACs, such as Trump's Make America Great Again Inc. and Biden's FF PAC. . While these vehicles have the advantage of accepting unlimited donations from individuals, campaigns are also legally prohibited from working with individuals.
Unless that money also goes to Trump's lawyers. Of the $10.8 million Make America Great Again reported spending in January, about half went to support Trump's candidacy. The other half, $5 million, went to Save America, which spent most of the money last month on legal fees, the report said.
