Note#1: Corrected formatting w/added poll
Note#2: This post is Number 7 in a series of reports on small-donor fundraising, as reported by the nonprofit Act Blue.
August fundraising by Act Blue surged again from strong reports in May-July of 2022. Once again, the monthly giving in Aug. was roughly double that of the 2018 midterm election cycle. This gives the lie to Republican gospel that they will achieve a Red Wave in the November midterms. As one political storm after another has washed away the rhetoric of Repug invincibility, their fundraising has faltered at the small-donor level as well as the PAC level. As a reminder to readers of the series, I am not following PAC giving, nor their fundraising.
It is now axiomatic among Democrats that the Dobbs decision by SCOTUS in June, which overturned the Roe V Wade decision, has had an explosive effect on our fundraising. That fateful decision has unleashed a firestorm of controversy, helping to unite Dems at the same time it’s dividing the Rep. Party. As most Kos readers are aware, an early primary in Kansas, in which a thinly-disguised anti-abortion measure, brough out an unexpected army of pro-choice voters in one of the reddest states in the US. Behind that turnout was very heavy voter registration with a strong advantage to women.
In short- women are pissed, and so are a lot of progressives.
“The total number of women registering to vote in KS, PA, OH, OK, FL, NC, ID, AL, NM, and ME rose by 35% this summer.
Women will lead the charge in fighting back against the MAGA autocratic movement in November.
— The Lincoln Project (@ProjectLincoln) September 12, 2022 (Borrowed
shamelessly from a chloris creator GNR) Thank you, chloris!!)
My point in posting this series is that there is an intimate connection between how much money Democrats raise for an election and their level of enthusiasm and/or concern. Ultimately, that comes down to how people vote. So the issues pushing the fundraising include abortion rights at number 1, the economy & inflation at number 2, defending democracy (probably 3rd), gun safety/gun violence, climate change, war in Ukraine and innumerable others.
It’s also worth noting that this is the first election since the Jan 1st Insurrection (2021) in the fading days of the Trump Administration. While TDFG is still in the news almost daily, a majority of the news items are (arguably) related to criminal actions of the former precedent (sic) and his family. Again, that is favorable to Dems in the sense that is creating more friction in the Rep. Party, and it helps remind voters that TDFG did severe damage to the institution of democracy.
TOPLINE NUMBERS
Aug 2018 Aug 2020 Aug 2022
Contributions 2,537,230 10,654,586 4,751,970
Dollars Raised $117,738,770 $485,400,544 $213,422,315
Average Cont. Size $46.40 $45.56 $44.91
Unique Donors 1,087,742 4,038,806 1,608,995
Unique Campaigns, Comms,
and Organizations 7,567 11,577 13,772
CYCLE-TO-CYCLE COMPARISON
(I.E. Jan 1 of prev. year thru current month)
Contributions 30,521,114 87,079,942 65,173,088
Dollars Raised $1,113,153,932 $3,019,731,229 $2,522,534,179
Average Contrib. $36.47 $34.68 $38.71
Unique Donors 4,031,072 12,495,647 6,465,848
Unique Campaigns, Comms.,
and Organizations 13,458 20,239 25,475
* One final note. The cycle-to-cycle numbers illustrate that the 2022 dollars raised are well over double those of the 2018 cycle. They are also almost 84% of the 2020 general election cycle. That’s a Lot of heavy lifting. Both the political rhetoric and the closeness of many House & Senate races almost guarantees continued hefty donations to Dem candidates and ballot measures this year.
As usual, your comments and questions are welcome! Fire away- in a Kos-compliant manner, s’il vous plait!
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