Online political contributions to Donald Trump appear to have declined substantially in recent months ahead of the former president's embarrassing primary losses this week, as some believe his influence over the Republican Party may be fading.
Trump's efforts to unseat top incumbent Republicans in Georgia resulted in a significant failure during Tuesday's primary. The southern state's GOP Governor Brian Kemp and Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger, who drew the former president's anger after they refused to assist with overturning President Joe Biden's election win in their state, handily won their primaries by large double-digit margins.
Kemp beat Trump-endorsed former Senator David Perdue by a margin of about 74 percent to 22 percent—a lead of more than 50 points for the incumbent Republican governor. Raffensperger similarly beat Trump-backed Representative Jody Hice with a margin of approximately 52 percent to about 33 percent—nearly a 20-point lead in favor of Georgia's current top elections official.
The New York Times reported Saturday that some Republicans see these failures as a potential sign that Trump's "untouchability" in GOP politics "has been punctured." The newspaper further reported that Trump's Republican rivals have been "emboldened," noting that his "average daily online contributions have declined every month for the last seven months that federal data is available."
The former president "has gone from raising an average of $324,633 per day in September 2021 on WinRed, the Republican donation-processing portal, to $202,185 in March 2022," the Times reported. This dip came despite Trump increasing his political efforts, as he's traversed the country in an effort to bolster GOP candidates he's endorsed. Trump has also repeatedly teased the possibility of another 2024 presidential run, with recent polls showing he would be the frontrunner for the party's nomination.
The newspaper additionally reported that his "main fund-raising committee accounted for 19.7 percent of what was raised by Republican campaigns and committees on WinRed in the last four months of 2021, but just 14.1 percent of what was raised during the first three months of 2022."
Whether the dip in fundraising and Trump's failures in Georgia are signs of his waning influence will be determined as the primaries continue to play out and as the party moves forward into the midterm election. The former president also had a series of significant primary wins thus far this year, although analysts have noted that many of these candidates were incumbents and/or running in strongly pro-Trump districts—making them likely to succeed with or without his backing.
Overall, polls have consistently shown that Republican voters largely continue to favor Trump. Across the board, his favorability rating is hovering above the approval rating of Biden as well. The current FiveThirtyEight averages show that the former president is viewed favorably by 41.8 percent of voters. Comparatively, only 40.6 percent of voters approve of the current president.
Newsweek reached out to Trump's press office for comment.
Uncommon Knowledge
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Newsweek is committed to challenging conventional wisdom and finding connections in the search for common ground.
About the writer
Jason Lemon is a Weekend Editor at Newsweek based in Brooklyn, New York. Prior to taking on the editor role, Jason's reporting focused on ... Read more
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