How Trump is following in Sanders's fundraising footsteps
Republican candidate Donald Trump, who did little to establish a fundraising army for his presidential primary campaign, has raked in an unprecedented amount of donations for a Republican candidate in the last three months, leading some to liken his efforts and success to that of Sen. Bernie Sanders (I)聽of Vermont.
Mr. Trump has already raised 鈥� an impressive feat considering he only started soliciting donations in May and had just $1.3 million on hand in June, Politico reported. As the numbers roll in, many Republicans are surprised by the real estate mogul鈥檚 fundraising success among small donors, noting that Democrats typically rake in a high number of small to moderate donations, while Republicans rely on fewer donors, but larger sums of money.
In 2008 and 2012, Republican candidates John McCain and Mitt Romney , The Wall Street Journal reported.
鈥淚鈥檝e never seen anything like this,鈥� a senior Republican operative working with the campaign鈥檚 small-dollar fundraising operation, told Politico. 鈥淗e鈥檚 the Republican Obama in terms of online fundraising.鈥�
Or the Senator Sanders, who built his primary campaign with average donations of just $27 and famously said he did not have, or want, a super political action committee (PAC). By soliciting small contributions, Sanders鈥檚 campaign was able to raise $229 million through June, while former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton brought in $238 million before the help of super PACs.
鈥淪anders鈥檚 ability to attract small donors ,鈥� Anthony Corrado, a professor at Colby College who studies campaign finance and presidential elections, told The Atlantic during Sanders鈥檚 campaign. 鈥淪mall-dollar donations have become the bedrock of his campaign, and he has been able to motivate more donors more quickly to raise more money from small amounts than was the case for [Barack] Obama or [Howard] Dean.鈥�
Despite Trump鈥檚 latest success among small donors, some say it鈥檚 not enough, and that such success comes from different tactics than those used by Democrats.
鈥淚 would just put it in the perspective of they鈥檙e still not doing as well as they should be doing and they鈥檙e doing too little too late,鈥� Kenneth Pennington, the former digital director for Sanders鈥檚 campaign, told Politico. 鈥淥nce they start copying some of things Democrats are doing, then I鈥檒l get worried.鈥�
Instead, Trump is using his name to capitalize on donations, and has offered the chance to have dinner or other meetings with the candidate and his family in return for donations. An email campaign offers autographed copies of Trump鈥檚 book, , for $184.
Sanders鈥檚 campaign, on the other hand, used lengthy appeals over email, sometimes between 1,000 to 2,000 words to garner donations.
鈥淲e find that people develop a deeper investment and appreciation for the campaign when they鈥檙e being counted as part of something bigger than themselves,鈥� Robin Curran, Sanders鈥檚 former digital-production director, told The Atlantic in March.
While Trump鈥檚 fundraising success might mirror that of Sanders, it鈥檚 worth noting that money wasn鈥檛 enough to win the primary for the Vermont senator when he ran against Mrs. Clinton, and there鈥檚 no guarantee Trump鈥檚 donation bounty will help him fair any better against the Democrat. Some also question whether Trump's success will usher in a new era of small donations for future Republican candidates.
鈥淎 lot of them probably don鈥檛 realize that 20 percent of the money goes to the RNC otherwise they probably wouldn鈥檛 give,鈥� an operative working with the candidate and the RNC, which has started a joint fundraising venture with Trump, told Politico. 鈥淧eople are giving money to the joint fundraising committee because Donald Trump鈥檚 name is on it.鈥�
