Trump’s Vaunted Fundraising Machine Is Faltering

Illustration by the Daily Beast

If it were a business and not politics (I know, it’s a difference without a distinction), Donald Trump would be fired for mismanagement of his oft-touted fundraising prowess. Daily Beat’s Pay Dirt newsletter has a must-read piece on how Trump’s Save America Joint Fundraising Committee is spending a dollar to generate 10 cents of income, according to the latest Election Financing Commission report.

In fact, the spending was so steep that it ate up around 90 percent of what he raised. So while the committee took in an impressive $24 million, it spent about $22 million to get there. That means the famous dealmaker spent a dollar to make a little more than a dime.

Compare that trade-off to the previous quarter, where the same committee spent just $9.7 million but pulled in $17 million. That’s a $7 million return. Now, it’s $2 million.

Read the rest here.

One in 10 Trump Voters Might Not Vote for Him This Time

10%

A new analysis of data from the 2019 Cooperative Congressional Election Study survey finds as many as one in 10 Trump voters is considering voting for somebody else in 2020. “These voters are individuals who neither strongly approve nor strongly disapprove of the job Trump is doing as president. If Democrats want to win over these voters, they’ll have to choose their message wisely.”

20% of Maine Republican Voters Wouldn’t Vote for Trump

20%

“Roughly one in five Republican voters in Maine’s largest towns left President Trump’s oval blank or wrote in another name during Tuesday’s presidential primary,” the Portland Press Herald reports. “Unlike Democratic voters in Maine, who could choose among 12 candidates listed on the ballot, Maine Republicans had only one official option for their party’s nominee during the Super Tuesday primary: Donald Trump.”

Trump Trails Dems by Double Digits in Nationwide Poll

40%

“One year out from the 2020 election, President Trump trails some potential Democratic rivals in head-to-head matchups, with his national support level currently fixed at about 40%:” according to a Washington Post-ABC News poll. “Joe Biden, Sen. Bernie Sanders and Sen. Elizabeth Warren run strongest against the president nationally, with Biden leading by 17 points (56% to 39%), Warren by 15 points (55% to 40%) and Sanders by 14 points (55% to 41%). … Pete Buttigieg and Sen. Kamala D. Harris, the other two Democrats tested against Trump, also lead the president among registered voters, with Buttigieg up by 52% to 41%, and Harris ahead by 51% to 42%.”