Biden campaign says Trump ‘simply cannot keep up’ after analysis shows donors lagging behind 2020 pace

The Biden campaign on Wednesday jabbed at former President Trump’s ability to attract donors after an analysis of federal data showed the Trump campaign is lagging behind its 2020 pace in terms of money and individual donors.

“Donald Trump simply cannot keep up with Joe Biden: He’s too lazy to campaign, too toxic to generate enthusiasm or grassroots support, and too obsessed with his own personal revenge and retribution to expand his coalition. Open your eyes, Donald, the campaign has begun,” Biden campaign spokesperson James Singer said in a statement exclusively to The Hill. 

While Trump will be in New York City for four days a week for several weeks for his trial over an alleged hush money scheme, he has held campaign events on the weekends. He was in Pennsylvania for a rally last Saturday and will be in North Carolina this Saturday.

The Biden campaign cited a Financial Times analysis that found Trump has raised money from roughly 900,000 donors from July 2023 through the first quarter of 2024, down from roughly 1.2 million donors during the equivalent period of the 2020 cycle.

At the same time, Trump is trailing Biden in terms of overall fundraising and cash on hand with roughly seven months until Election Day.

The Biden campaign raised $90 million in March and entered April with $192 million in cash on hand, which it said was a record for any Democratic candidate at this point in the election cycle. As of the end of March, 1.6 million people have donated to the campaign, officials said.

Meanwhile, Trump has brought in roughly $66 million in March. The Trump campaign and Republican National Committee, which merged last month after Trump became the presumptive nominee, entered April with $93.1 million in cash on hand.

Trump has tried to close the money gap in recent weeks by holding high-dollar fundraisers, including one hosted by hedge fund billionaire John Paulson in Palm Beach, Fla., that brought in roughly $50 million.

A Trump campaign spokesperson noted Trump only became the presumptive GOP nominee in mid-March and has seen his fundraising spike significantly since then.

“President Trump became the GOP presumptive nominee less than a month ago and has already raised more than $100 million dollars for his winning campaign and the newly-reinvigorated Republican National Committee, despite the majority of Americans hurting from Joe Biden’s record-high inflation,” the spokesperson said in a statement. “Team Trump will continue to raise the resources necessary to win on November 5th.” 

The 2024 race is on pace to be among the most expensive in history following a 2020 campaign in which Biden raised roughly $1 billion in donations, while Trump raised about $775 million, according to federal records.

Despite the cash advantage, Biden has struggled to overtake Trump in the polls. The former president has maintained a lead in nearly every key battleground state expected to decide the outcome of November’s election.

A Decision Desk HQ average of polls showed Trump leading in Arizona by 4 percentage points, in Georgia by 5 percentage points, in Michigan by 3 percentage points and in North Carolina by 3 points. The two candidates are neck-and-neck in Pennsylvania and Wisconsin.

Updated at 3:35 p.m.