Joe Biden – Donald Trump | Rain of millions: this is how the battle of donations for Biden and Trump goes | Presidential elections | WORLD

LOOK: Biden vs Trump: Who arrives better at the decisive first presidential debate in the United States?

Until two months ago, the Democratic president enjoyed a clear financial advantage over his rival. However, the former Republican president surpassed him in May for the second consecutive month, a feat that could prove crucial in this stage of the campaign. Federal records published in recent weeks show that the increase in support for the tycoon occurred after the historic conviction in which he was convicted of paying secret money to a porn star to buy her silence.

Trump’s campaign outraised Biden’s by more than $60 million in May. The president’s team and the Democratic National Committee together raised $85 million that month, while Trump and the Republicans raised $141 million.

Despite this, in the final balance the Democrat’s campaign still surpasses that of the Republican in fundraising by 305 million dollars compared to 243 million dollars, according to the organization Open Secrets.

In Trump’s case, one amount was crucial to his May fundraising surge. One day after Trump was convicted, billionaire Timothy Mellon donated a staggering $50 million to pro-Trump political action committees (PACs), one of the biggest ever.

It was that amount, as well as the more modest contributions from thousands of anonymous donors that increased after the verdict against Trump that the former Republican president has managed to close the financial gap with his rival.

Trump’s campaign said it raised $53 million online in the first 24 hours and $70 million in the first 48 hours after the verdict, The New York Times reported.

Political scientist María Puerta Riera, professor of American Government at Valencia College in Orlando, believes that the rebound that Trump has had was to be expected. First, because he was very far behind due, fundamentally, to the fact that a sector of the Republican Party had the expectation that Nikki Haley could do something to compete, but that did not materialize.

“Once it became clear that Trump is the candidate and that this is inevitable, the fragmentation of donations in the Republican Party ended. A key factor was undoubtedly Mellon’s contribution,” he tells El Comercio.

“It was expected that there would be a recovery even though President Biden has a lead over Trump,” he added.

Multimillion-dollar contributions

The numbers have continued to grow and multimillion-dollar donors have been crucial. The newspaper “The Washington Post” highlights that the Biden campaign figures do not include the approximately $40 million raised by the Democratic president and his representatives in recent weeks.

One of the most prominent donors has been billionaire former New York mayor Michael Bloomberg, who recently donated nearly $20 million to Biden’s campaign. “I endorsed Joe Biden in 2020 and I’m proud to do so again,” he said in a statement sent to The Washington Post.

Last week the American president received $28 million from his supporters in Hollywood in a single night. Some of the most acclaimed artists in the United States paraded at the event, such as George Clooney, Julia Roberts and Barbra Streisand. Biden was accompanied by his family and former President Barack Obama.

“It’s the biggest Democratic fundraiser ever,” Clooney said.

In March, New York’s Radio City Music Hall event, where late-night host Stephen Colbert interviewed Biden, Obama and former President Bill Clinton, raised $26 million.

In the case of Trump, the newspaper “El País” recalls that a good part of Wall Street supports him more openly, even those who were critical of the Republican’s role in the assault on the Capitol in January 2021 have closed ranks. The head of Blackstone, Stephen Schwarzman, is one of those who has expressed his support.

Elbow to elbow

While polls show that Biden and Trump are tied in most surveys, some polls show that the Democrat has led his rival by a short margin for the first time. With such a tight scenario, attention to collection amounts will be increasing.

“Taken together, the numbers detailed in the campaigns’ latest filings with the Federal Election Commission suggest Democrats may still hold a cash advantage in the 2024 presidential contest. But with nearly four months to go until Election Day, the Trump side is closing the gap, if it hasn’t already,” says The Washington Post.

Puerta explains that, just as both candidates are very close in the polls, they are also going to compete side by side in fundraising. “This is going to be an extremely expensive campaign. I don’t know to what extent there will be a difference because now Trump took advantage because he was far behind and it is logical that he is closing that gap. What we can expect is that this is going to be another scenario within the same competition,” he points out.

Although Trump’s increased fundraising and Biden’s increased advertising spending bring both candidates closer to financial parity, the expert sees a factor that hurts the Republicans since a good part of the funds amassed are going to pay legal expenses,

“They spend on legal assistance for Trump’s judicial problems. The lawyers are not only for their open cases, but also for those of their employees or people linked to their management who are being accused of having participated in any of the cases. Between 40% and 50% are going to pay legal expenses. In the United States, an electoral campaign is very expensive and the advantage in this regard is on the side of the Democrats because they do not have those expenses. That, on the one hand, could benefit Biden, but it is also clear that it puts more pressure on Trump to raise funds,” he points out.

Although the final balance of donations will be seen in the coming months, for “The New York Times”, the combination of Trump’s improvement in fundraising and Biden’s greater spending on advertising seems to put both parties on a path to achieve financial parity.