Even if Trump has enough cash to go toe to toe with President Obama—and that’s a big if, given that the presumed Democratic nominee has set out to raise a record $1 billion—it may not help him much. Self-funded candidates typically lose at the polls, data shows. Of 52 self-financed candidates who ran for Congress in 2008, for example, fewer than a dozen went on to win, according to the Center for Responsive Politics.Fundraising has a bad reputation, but it serves as a vehicle for listening to constituents and cultivating volunteers and grassroots support, said Jennifer A. Steen, an assistant professor of political science at Arizona State University: “In many ways, it really is basic politicking—going around and asking leaders and important groups to support you.”Candidates who come straight to politics from the business world tend to be thin-skinned and to ignore expert advice, Steen said, pointing to failed California gubernatorial candidate Meg Whitman as an example. Whitman outspent Democratic nominee Jerry Brown by 15 to 1, investing a record $141.5 million of her own money. But her message failed to resonate.The GOP field includes other potential self funders, of course, including Romney, who spent close to $40 million of his own money when he unsuccessfully sought the GOP presidential nomination in 2008, and businessman Jon Huntsman, the outgoing ambassador to China. Public disclosures identify Romney’s worth as ranging from $190 million and $250 million, and Huntsman’s as between $11 million and $74 million.But Romney, for one, used his personal money “very shrewdly” to launch a grassroots fund raising operation in 2008, Steen noted. Romney raised $6.3 million last year, according to his campaign, and doled out more than $1 million of it to GOP candidates and causes.As for Trump, Steen sees in him the stereotypical self funder: aloof, politically inexperienced, unaccustomed to taking criticism or advice.
Trump Will Need More Than His Own Cash to Win Presidency
NationalJournal.com:
