Fundraising 2016 - The American Political Pastime

Thanks to the Center for Responsive Politics and their Open Secrets website, we can easily get a glimpse into the money behind the remaining presidential candidates. 

Thus far in the 2016 cycle, all candidates have raised a total of $837 million and Super PACs that support them have raised $462 million for a total of $1.299 billion.  Here is a graphic showing the data for the remaining five candidates:

For completeness sake, here is the same data for the "also rans" who found themselves on the losing side of the primary race:

Let's look at some details for the top three candidates starting with Ms. Clinton.  Here is a graphic showing her fundraising totals and expenditures for her campaign committee as well as her political action committees:

Ms. Clinton's campaign committee has raised $229,303,008 and spent $186,841,222 leaving it with cash on hand of $42.461 million.  Additionally, outside groups have raised $84,815,067 and spent $38,332,454 leaving them with $46.483 million in the bank.  

Here is a graphic showing the source of funds:

Only 20 percent of Ms. Clinton's individual contributions have come from small contributors (i.e. Main Street USA).

Here is a table showing independent expenditures both for and against Hillary Clinton:

Organizations and individuals are allowed to spend unlimited money to either advocate for or campaign against their chosen candidate/target.  

Here is a screen capture showing both the states and metropolitan areas that have, so far, been the top donors to Ms. Clinton's run for the Oval Office:

Lastly for Ms. Clinton, here is a table showing the industries that are the top donors to her 2016 campaign:

Not terribly surprising given her penchant for speaking to the securities/investment/banking sector for quarter of a million dollar plus paydays, the Securities and Investment industry is her largest donor.  This also explains the dominance of New York as the metropolitan area that is, by a wide margin, her biggest financial supporter.

Now, let's look at the same data for Mr. Sanders.  Here is a graphic showing his fundraising totals and expenditures for his campaign as well as his political action committees:

Mr. Sanders' campaign committee has raised a total of $222,191,776 and spent $212,956,384 leaving it with cash on hand of $9.235 million.  Outside groups have raised only $610,185, a tiny fraction of the $84.8 million raised by outside groups supporting Ms. Clinton.

Here is a graphic showing the source of the funds:

Again, in sharp contrast to Ms. Clinton, 60 percent of Mr. Sanders' individual contributions have come from small contributors compared to only 20 percent for Ms. Clinton.

Here is a table showing independent expenditures both for and against Mr. Sanders:

Compared to Ms. Clinton, the anti-Sanders spending has been very small, totalling less than $900,000 compared to Ms. Clinton's anti-Clinton independent expenditures of more than $7.7 million.

Here is a graphic showing both the states and metropolitan areas that have been the top donors for Mr. Sanders' campaign so far:

His geographic spread is much less concentrated than Ms. Clinton.  In her case, she received over $50.5 million from her top donating metropolitan area (New York City) compared to only $4.849 million for Mr. Sanders' top donating metropolitan area (again, New York City).

Lastly for Mr. Sanders, here is a graphic showing the industries that are the top donors to his 2016 campaign:

Again, in sharp contrast to Ms. Clinton, the Securities and Investment industry doesn't even appear on his top 20 donors list which is actually composed of a much broader and more "Main Street" sampling of U.S. industries.

Now, let's look at the campaign financing of the last Republican man standing, Donald Trump.  Here is a graphic showing his fundraising totals and expenditures for his campaign as well as his political action committees:

So far, his campaign committee has raised $63,055,659 and spent $61,766,152 leaving it with cash on hand of $1,289,508.  Outside groups have raised only $3,294,908 and spent $2,963,523, again, a tiny fraction of Hillary Clinton's total outside spending.  

Here is a graphic showing a breakdown of Mr. Trump's campaign financing:

In contrast to his Democratic rivals, Mr. Trump has self-financed his campaign to the tune of $45,703,185 or 72 percent of the total.  Of the remaining 27 percent, 20 percent has come from small individual contributors and 7 percent has come from large individual contributors.

Here is a table showing independent expenditures both for and against Mr. Trump:

Like Ms. Clinton, there is a great deal of independent money being spent against Mr. Trump's campaign.  Thus far, over $63 million has been spent by Mr. Trump's foes, handily beating the anti-Clinton independent expenditures of "only" $7.7 million.

Here is a graphic showing both the states and metropolitan areas that have been the top donors for Mr. Trump's campaign so far:

Here are the industries that have been the top donors to Mr. Trump's campaign:

Given that his campaign is mainly self-funded, I guess we could say that the real estate industry is primarily responsible for most of his campaign funding.

In closing, when you look at the data behind the headline numbers, I find it quite interesting that two of the candidates, Mr. Trump and Mr. Sanders, are running what can best be termed a "grass roots" campaign with Mr. Sanders heavily relying on small donors from a wide range of industries funding his campaign, similar to what Mr. Trump has done if one excludes his self-funding which, in itself, is quite anomalous.  This is in sharp contrast to Ms. Clinton who has appealed strongly to wealthier donors, concentrated in one geographic region and one industry, an industry that has provided the Clinton family with tens of millions of dollars in income outside of the political theatre.