Harris and Trump campaigns: Nearly $1.4bn raised and over $1.2bn spent
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49 billionaires have financially supported Trump, while Harris has backing from 76 billionaires.
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This combination of photos shows Donald Trump and Kamala Harris, with Harris speaking at a rally in Charlotte, North Carolina on September 12, 2024, and Trump speaking during a rally in Warren, Michigan, on November 1, 2024. (AP)
The campaign to elect Democrat Kamala Harris as US president has raised nearly $1 billion, while her Republican opponent Donald Trump raised just under $400 million, according to open data and calculations by US media based on Federal Election Commission statistics.
As of mid-October, the Federal Election Commission reported that nearly all the funds raised have been spent: Harris has $118 million remaining, while Trump has $36.2 million left. Together, the candidates have spent over $1.2 billion in total.
During the final stages of the race, Harris significantly outpaced Trump in fundraising, bringing in $97.2 million in early October compared to Trump’s $16.2 million. She has set a record for fundraising speed, accumulating over $1 billion within just three months, outperforming candidates from the previous election cycle. In that cycle, two candidates raised a combined total of $1.85 billion: $785 million for Trump and $1.06 billion for Joe Biden.
US media suggested that Trump’s lower spending may be due to a strategy in which salaries and rally site rents are covered by associated Republican organizations.
Trump's largest donor was billionaire Timothy Mellon, who contributed $150 million, followed by entrepreneur Elon Musk with $120 million. 49 billionaires have financially supported Trump, while Harris has backing from 76 billionaires.
Read more: Musk to lead US efficiency commission if Trump re-elected
Latest polls show Harris, Trump in deadlock, seemingly improbable
The US presidential election campaign enters its final weekend with polls showing Donald Trump and Kamala Harris in a seemingly permanent deadlock and few clues as to which of them will prevail on Tuesday.
At the end of a chaotic week that started with Trump’s racially charged rally in New York and included celebrity endorsements and misogynistic comments, The Guardian’s 10-day polling average showed little change. Voter loyalty to candidates appeared largely unaffected by these events.
Nationally, Harris, the Democratic nominee, holds a narrow one-point lead over her Republican opponent, 48% to 47%, which is nearly unchanged from last week. This lead is within the margin of error for most polls.
Candidates in dead heat
In battleground states, the race is equally tight. Candidates are tied at 48% in Pennsylvania, considered a key swing state due to its 19 electoral votes. Harris leads by a point in Michigan and Wisconsin, while Trump holds a slight edge in the Sunbelt, leading by 1% in North Carolina and 2% in Georgia and Arizona. In Nevada, his average lead in the polls is less than one percentage point.
As of Friday, the latest polling comes amid record early voting, with about 65 million Americans having already cast their ballots across multiple states.
According to The Guardian, predicting future results from early voting is notoriously challenging. However, Politico reported that 58% of early voters in Pennsylvania aged 65 and over were registered Democrats, compared to 35% who were Republicans. Despite the two main parties having roughly equal numbers of registered voters among older adults in the state, about 53% of this demographic voted for Trump in Pennsylvania in 2020, even though he lost to Biden.
Unlike four years ago, Trump is now encouraging his supporters to vote early, stated The Guardian. It said the higher turnout among Democrats could be a positive sign for them in this bellwether state, where analysts believe turnout will be crucial for the outcome, adding that Democratic strategists have claimed a 10%-20% lead in senior voter turnout across the three blue-wall states.
