Report: Democrats See Drop in Small Donations Compared to Last Presidential Cycle

Democrats have suffered a loss in small donations through ActBlue in the first two quarters of this presidential election cycle compared to 2020, according to a report. 

Politico’s Jessica Piper first reported on the disparities at the federal level on Friday, highlighting that Democrats’ $312 million raised from small donors through ActBlue this year marks a $30 million decline from four years ago.

What is more, the number of Democrat donors fell 32 percent compared to quarter two of 2019, when the Democrat primary was heating up. Ari Rabin-Havt, who served as deputy campaign manager for Bernie Sanders’ 2020 White House bid, expressed concerns about the drop-off while speaking with Politico. 

“Because small donors are a proxy for enthusiasm, if people aren’t concerned about the drop-off in contributions, then they just aren’t paying attention or whistling past the graveyard,” he said before calling for an autopsy of what is driving the drop. 

“The impact is from top to bottom. You can see it in the ActBlue number, you can see it from the DNC down through every group. There has to be a quick examination among Democrats about what is creating this enthusiasm gap,” Rabin-Havt added. 

Biden’s campaign launch on April 25 saw the third-best donor total of the first half for Democrats, per Politico’s data. However, it marked more than a 25 percent decline in dollars raised compared to 2019, when he entered a crowded field. 

All of this aside, ActBlue’s “total fundraising increased slightly due to several factors, including more recurring donors and greater giving to non-federal groups,” Piper wrote. 

And despite the drop-off in the number of people donating, ActBlue consistently outperformed donor totals of WinRed, Republicans’ comparable fundraising mechanism. According to Politico’s analysis, Republicans enjoyed more donors on days when Trump was arraigned on indictments but otherwise fell short of Democrat donor totals throughout the first two quarters. 

When Trump was arraigned in Manhattan on April 4, 125,902 donations came into WinRed versus 57,466 donations to ActBlue. Similarly, when Trump was arraigned in Miami on allegations that he mishandled classified documents at the end of his presidency, WinRed saw 88,349 donations to Democrats’ 81,142, according to the outlet. 

The analysis comes as House Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) and the National Republican Congressional Committee (NRCC) outraised House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-NY) and the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee (DCCC) by more than $10 million in the second quarter. 

McCarthy and the NRCC hauled in $47 million to Jeffries and the DCCC’s $35 million.