Trump’s $30 million haul looks impressive at first glance but it less than both George W. Bush and Obama raised in the first quarter of their reelection campaigns.

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Chuck Todd said MSNBC’s MTP Daily, “I want to put up the president’s fundraising and it looks good compared to the Democrats. He has one primary foe in Bill Weld; he raised approximately $30 million this quarter. We put it up against other first quarter reelects, Obama, his first may quarter, which was quarter two, not quarter one. $46.3 million. George W. Bush, $35.1 million at this same time. The trump story doesn’t sound like a lot. And the cash on hand totals, very much the same. I remind you contribution limits are much higher they’ve today than they were in 2003 and even Obama in ’11. I just expected a bigger juggernaut.”

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Trump isn’t raising as much money as the two previous incumbent presidents running for reelection

Trump is not going to be putting any of his own money into the campaign, so he better be able to raise money. One of the biggest reasons why Trump is struggling to raise dollars is that many large donors don’t want to write a big check and see it end up funneled into Trump’s back pocket. Trump was notorious for skimming off of the top and funneling campaign money to himself and his kids through his businesses, so some donors aren’t exactly lining up with checkbooks in hand to give Trump money that they worry will not be spent on the campaign.

There is also the notion that Trump is a weak incumbent with poor polling numbers. Donors might not want to waste their money on Trump when they can spend it on defending the Republican Senate majority.

Reelection campaign fundraising is another area where Obama was a better president than Trump.

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Jason Easley

Jason is the managing editor. He is also a White House Press Pool and a Congressional correspondent for PoliticusUSA. Jason has a Bachelor’s Degree in Political Science. His graduate work focused on public policy, with a specialization in social reform movements.

Awards and  Professional Memberships

Member of the Society of Professional Journalists and The American Political Science Association