CNBC reports that President Trump’s 2019 fundraising haul far outpaces that of his Democratic rivals. The flip side, however, is that the combined group of Democratic hopefuls has more than tripled Trump’s take.
By the end of 2019, the Trump campaign had more than $100 million on hand after raising more than $46 million in the fourth quarter. The nearest Democratic contender was Bernie Sanders, who raked in $34.5 million. Joe Biden, the Democratic frontrunner, raised only $22.7 million. That’s the good news for Team Trump.
The bad news for Mr. Trump is that when all 14 Democrats are taken into account, the Trump campaign was outraised by $515 million to $143 million, 28 percent of the amount raised by the Democrats. If only individual contributions are considered, the president lagged the Democrats by $76 million to $471 million, 16 percent of what Democrats raised.
Trump’s fundraising gap is the worst of any recent incumbent. In 2011, President Obama raised 92 percent of the amount raised by his Republican rivals while George W. Bush raised more than his Democratic challengers in 2003.
“The field is trouncing Trump in fundraising and that is unprecedented,” Sarah Bryner, director of research and strategy at the Center for Responsive Politics, told CNBC.
The fact that Trump is running virtually unopposed in the Republican primary means that the president will start the general election campaign with a cash advantage over his Democratic challenger. The Democrats are earning smaller amounts and will have higher burn rates through the first half of the year as they wage primary battles against each other.
The big question is how effective the eventual Democratic nominee will be at uniting the party and rallying fundraisers to support his or her campaign. If the Democrats can keep the rate of contributions high through November, they may be able to drown out Trump’s messaging in the closing days of the campaign with a deluge of ads and outreach to voters.
Originally published on The Resurgent
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