An influx of small-dollar donations to former President Donald Trump after his indictment could bolster the case for his 2024 electability ahead of what could be a competitive Republican primary campaign.
Trump shattered Republican small-dollar donation records in the lead-up to the 2016 election as contributors rallied to support his insurgent campaign. The trend proved an early indicator of his reach before he toppled Hillary Clinton on Election Day.
A sign that Trump could replicate this support with voters in 2024 could throw into disarray the case that the former president has lost his pull with voters.
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“We’re talking about grassroots, small-dollar donations,” said a GOP presidential campaign operative, acknowledging the push as an effort “to raise as much money as possible off of the indictment.”
The upside, this person said, is that “smaller donors tend to be voters.”
Trump has raised more than $8 million since the indictment late last week, according to senior adviser Jason Miller. Trump’s campaign website is also selling T-shirts with a pretend mug shot.
Though Trump is expected to hold on to about 1 in 3 primary voters, some Republicans have questioned Trump’s ability to win another general election after losing the 2020 presidential election to President Joe Biden.
The party saw disappointing results in the midterm elections, stoking an argument that Trump shouldered some of the blame after inserting himself into primary races with endorsements for candidates that later struggled. And while Trump saw his coffers swell after the FBI descended on his Mar-a-Lago estate last year, he was not on the ballot in November, and the outpouring did not carry over. The rollout of Trump’s 2024 bid has also failed to quiet skeptics.
That individual donors are still flocking to Trump amid the indictment and broader economic pressures poses a challenge for other Republicans entering the race. And Trump has sought to paint his rivals as the choice of establishment Republicans, reviving a theme that helped him capture the nomination and the presidency in 2016.
For candidates resting their pitch on a doubt that Trump can win a general election, the fundraising haul and an outpouring of sympathy over the charges may prove a blow.
“Let’s say the average is a $50 donation. That’s a potential voter,” the GOP operative said. “It reminds me of 2015, 2016, where people really saw him as that outsider who is going to go in there and drain the swamp.”
Trump won the White House while spending far less than Hillary Clinton, a better-funded rival who amassed a war chest with nearly double the ammo. He also earned billions of dollars worth of earned media.
Asked about the share of small-dollar donations, an adviser for the Trump campaign declined to comment.
The focus on the case has benefited Trump in other ways.
Trump’s allies have heaped pressure on his rivals to defend him, offering a rare point of unity between the former president and Gov. Ron DeSantis (R-FL), his most prominent target.
A prominent swing-state governor, DeSantis scored a landslide victory in the midterm elections that captured Democratic Miami-Dade County. For some Republicans, DeSantis’s ability to sway voters outside the GOP tent signaled a path to taking back the White House in 2024. But whether the governor can edge out Trump isn’t clear.
Polls show DeSantis, a favorite of Republicans in Washington, consolidating support in key early states, with fundraising numbers that suggest the governor could prove to be a strong opponent once he enters the race after the Florida legislative session ends as expected. A super PAC aligned with the governor said it had raised $30 million since early March.
Others vying for the nomination have been drowned out by coverage of the indictment.
“It has buried the campaign of Nikki Haley,” a veteran campaign operative said of the former South Carolina governor, who trailed DeSantis and Trump, according to a RealClearPolitics average of recent polls.
This source questioned the political instincts that led former Gov. Asa Hutchinson (R-AR) to announce a presidential bid over the weekend, as Trump’s indictment loomed, and said that they’d discovered it simply “by chance.”
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DeSantis’s supporters say his ability to winnow the field to two front-runners, the governor and Trump, is a testament to his strength. However, his polling advantage begins to break down in a field of two or more candidates.
Haley’s campaign said she had raised more than $11 million since announcing her candidacy six weeks ago.
After a slow start, Trump is on track to reach $10 million total since warning of his indictment one week ago, according to an aide.
