Americans spend huge amounts of money on their elections. According to the Federal Election Commission (FEC), during the 2016 presidential election cycle, candidates spent a total of $1.6 billion (£1.2 billion). This amount amounted to 4.1 billion US dollars in 2020 cycleand it is likely to be much higher during the current election campaign.
Donations to presidential campaign funds come from individuals, political parties and political action committees (PACS). These pool contributions from supporters to promote or oppose candidates, while raising money in the first place. They are legally independent of the campaign funds raised by candidates and parties, but they act in concert with them, for example by financing advertisements that support the policies and positions adopted by their candidates.
Policy campaigns in the United States are very expensive because they last a long time and involve expensive advertising. As soon as a new president is elected, preparations begin for the midterm congressional elections two years later, as well as for the next cycle of presidential primaries.
The FEC continually updates figures for funds raised and spent for the 2024 presidential election campaign. As of this writing, the 2024 presidential campaign has already raised a total of just over $397 million. of dollars by all candidates, and has spent just under $294 million since January 2021. Republicans have raised $225 million and Democrats $103 million.
As for spending, Republicans have spent $191 million and Democrats $48 million so far on the 2024 election campaign. These amounts do not include money raised by congressional and congressional campaigns. state level, but only concern presidential candidates.
The big gap between the two parties in spending is because Joe Biden has no significant rivals for the Democratic Party nomination, but the Republicans started with nine candidates certified by the Republican National Committee. The expenses of these hopefuls are added to the total collected.
About 18% of the population donated money to a candidate or party during the 2020 presidential election, according to the American National Election Study. It is likely that these small donations from individuals are largely motivated by their attachment to a party or a candidate.
Corporate donations to PACS supporting candidates often reflect a “hedging” strategy, or give money to both parties so as not to upset the winner if they support the loser. For example, the website OpenSecrets, which tracks money invested in American politics, shows that Exxon Mobile gave 58% of its political donations to Republicans and 42% to Democrats (in 2020).
Costly challenges for Trump
Donald Trump faces many challenges in his fundraising. By mid-February, he had raised less money that the presidentand there are signs that January fundraising was particularly strong.
FEC data shows that Biden raised about $92 so far for this year’s campaign, while Donald Trump’s total stands at just under $85.3 million. This represents Biden and Trump’s total of the money spent by all presidential candidates so far.
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In the 2020 election, electoral support for Trump was, unsurprisingly, strongest in Republican-leaning states, who tend to be poorer than Democratic-friendly states. That means he will likely receive less money from individual donations than Biden.
The income gap in “red” (Republican) and “blue” (Democratic) states has widened over time, so this problem is likely to get worse as elections are approaching.
Another problem for him is that so-called “dark money” donations from wealthy individuals in 2020 overwhelmingly favored Democrats rather than Republicans. Dark money refers to anonymous donations from the very wealthy through organizations known as “super PACS.” In 2020, these donations exceeded one billion US dollars. are really important.
According to OpenSecrets, Biden received $174 million in dark money, up from $174 million. only $25 million for Trump. This bonus for Biden could be even larger than in 2020 if, as seems likely, Trump secures the Republican nomination.
An interesting development is that Haley received significant sums from wealthy donors in her challenge to Trump for victory. Republican nomination. Even if her candidacy is distant, these donors clearly prefer her to Trump.
Finally, Trump faces an $83 million fine following a New York jury’s guilty verdict in a sexual assault case against columnist E. Jean Carroll. In a second case relating to his New York business empire, the judge ruled that fraud has been committed and fined him a total of $355 million.
The FEC closely monitors campaign finance, so you would be well advised to resist the temptation to use campaign funds to pay these fines, because it would be illegal.
Overall, this means the ex-president will likely be vastly outgunned by Biden’s campaign. But does this change the outcome of the election?
Recent research supports consistent findings that campaign spending in the United States has a significant impact on support for candidates, even though it tends to influence people to vote rather than to vote. change support between candidates.
This means that the more Democrats outspend Republicans in the 2024 campaign, the greater the chances that Joe Biden will beat Donald Trump, or vice versa.
