Donald Trump has raised unprecedented amounts of cash through small-dollar contributions to his presidential campaign and his joint fundraising operation with the Republican National Committee since he began soliciting donations in June, Politico reported on Monday.
The GOP presidential nominee has reportedly hauled in around $100 million through donations of $200 or less in three months time, according to Politico’s analysis of his Federal Election Commission filings and statements made by Trump campaign officials.
“I’ve never seen anything like this. He’s the Republican Obama in terms of online fundraising,” a source familiar with the Trump campaign’s fundraising apparatus was quoted as saying.
If the $100 million sum is accurate, Trump has toppled the small-dollar donation totals Mitt Romney and John McCain reported in 2012 and 2008, respectively. Romney and the RNC raised $19 million from contributions of $200 or less in July 2012, and another $9.4 million in August that year.
Trump has promised to match up to $2 million in donations on several occasions since his campaign began sending fundraising emails in June, possibly helping to boost the number of small-dollar contributions from his supporters.
The Trump campaign told Politico it has received cash from 2.1 million donors over the past three months — a significant feat when compared to the network of 2.3 million donors Hillary Clinton’s campaign has built over the course of several years.
Nonetheless, Clinton has continued to outpace her Republican opponent in fundraising overall and in small-dollar donations. FEC records in late August showed her campaign has raked in about $156 million from small donors so far. President Obama had raised more than $480 million in small-dollar contributions by the end of his re-election campaign in 2012.
The Trump campaign reported a total haul of $90 million in August, but has not disclosed how much cash the billionaire had on hand at the beginning of this month. Both candidates are required to file their August fundraising reports with the FEC by Tuesday.
