# Trump's high fundraising $ numbers - is it going to make any practical difference? **URL:** \ **Category:** Politics & Elections\ **Created:** [July 2, 2019, 9:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trumps-high-fundraising-numbers-is-it-going-to-make-any-practical-difference/836418 "2019-07-02T21:37:59Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 15\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![AK84](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/85e7bf/32.png) [@AK84](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AK84)\ **Post date:** [October 3, 2019, 3:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trumps-high-fundraising-numbers-is-it-going-to-make-any-practical-difference/836418/21 "2019-10-03T03:53:55Z")
> [@bengangmo](#): > > What happens to the money if Trump[ is impeached? Nothing. Trump remains President. Until Senate votes by 2/3 to remove him **and** bar him from future office. (Later might only need a simple majority). ---
**Author:** ![AlsoNamedBort](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alsonamedbort/32/3213_2.png) [@AlsoNamedBort](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AlsoNamedBort)\ **Post date:** [October 3, 2019, 3:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trumps-high-fundraising-numbers-is-it-going-to-make-any-practical-difference/836418/22 "2019-10-03T15:12:15Z")
> [@Little\_Nemo](#): > > He can donate an unlimited amount of unused campaign funds to a charity. “The Trump Fund. Money… for Trump.” ---
**Author:** ![Jophiel](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jophiel/32/66_2.png) [@Jophiel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jophiel)\ **Post date:** [October 3, 2019, 3:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trumps-high-fundraising-numbers-is-it-going-to-make-any-practical-difference/836418/23 "2019-10-03T15:19:00Z")
After a point, I think you have less things to spend it on that make any difference. Remember when the Obama campaign bought a cable channel to run his ad 24/7 and was discussing buying ad time on those gas station pump monitors? They literally had more money than they knew what to do with. ---
**Author:** ![BobLibDem](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/boblibdem/32/3149_2.png) [@BobLibDem](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BobLibDem)\ **Post date:** [October 3, 2019, 3:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trumps-high-fundraising-numbers-is-it-going-to-make-any-practical-difference/836418/24 "2019-10-03T15:22:24Z")
> [@Zakalwe](#): > > Trump’s base are easily motivated and ridiculously loyal. True enough, but what are they going to do, vote twice? I believe every vote that he is going to get in 2020 is solidly in his column already. He isn’t going to gain any new voters (save those coming of age in the time between elections). He could spend zero and he could spent a trillion dollars and wind up with very close to the same total. All he can do is attempt to smear his opponent and make him/her unacceptable. ---
**Author:** ![Velocity](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/velocity/32/18006_2.png) [@Velocity](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Velocity)\ **Post date:** [October 3, 2019, 3:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trumps-high-fundraising-numbers-is-it-going-to-make-any-practical-difference/836418/25 "2019-10-03T15:39:47Z")
> [@Jophiel](#): > > After a point, I think you have less things to spend it on that make any difference. Remember when the Obama campaign bought a cable channel to run his ad 24/7 and was discussing buying ad time on those gas station pump monitors? They literally had more money than they knew what to do with. I don’t think you can hit a point where “you have more money than you know what to do with.” I used to work on a political campaign in California. Now, I don’t know how a national campaign differs from a state/local campaign, but presumably, you can hire thousands of employees for your campaign to go door-to-door in swing states to get out the vote, lobby voters, persuade people, make phone calls, etc. If you pay each employee a hefty salary (say, $50,000 a year, which is a lot more than they’d probably get in real life,) that’s already $50 million for a thousand workers. Think of how many millions of Americans in swing states would have to be reached, called, told to get out to vote, etc. and you need a lot more workers than that. ---
**Author:** ![dalej42](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/67e7ee/32.png) [@dalej42](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dalej42)\ **Post date:** [October 6, 2019, 4:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trumps-high-fundraising-numbers-is-it-going-to-make-any-practical-difference/836418/26 "2019-10-06T16:21:16Z")
Actually, I’d love to see Trump raise as much as possible and crowd out the down ballot candidates. It’ll be interesting to see how he runs his campaign. Remember, in 2016, Trump barely went west of the Mississippi in order to be back in NYC for the night. Now, it’s true that most of the battleground states are east of the Mississippi but an incumbent president can certainly boost the down ballot candidates a lot more than a controversial nominee could in 2016z ---
**Author:** ![dalej42](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/67e7ee/32.png) [@dalej42](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dalej42)\ **Post date:** [October 6, 2019, 4:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trumps-high-fundraising-numbers-is-it-going-to-make-any-practical-difference/836418/27 "2019-10-06T16:31:38Z")
> [@Velocity](#): > > I don’t think you can hit a point where “you have more money than you know what to do with.” I used to work on a political campaign in California. Now, I don’t know how a national campaign differs from a state/local campaign, but presumably, you can hire thousands of employees for your campaign to go door-to-door in swing states to get out the vote, lobby voters, persuade people, make phone calls, etc. If you pay each employee a hefty salary (say, $50,000 a year, which is a lot more than they’d probably get in real life,) that’s already $50 million for a thousand workers. Think of how many millions of Americans in swing states would have to be reached, called, told to get out to vote, etc. and you need a lot more workers than that. An interesting point about Trump is that his base is heavily rural and that makes it much harder to canvass as they’re so spread out. Relying on a volunteer who has to drive around rural Iowa during a 2 hour volunteer shift means you’re simply not reaching many voters during that time. Whereas if I canvass for Pete in my very densely populated neighborhood in Chicago, I can reach a lot of voters in that 2 hour volunteer shift. So, I can imagine Trump needing more paid staff that are willing to work 40 hours a week. ---
**Author:** ![Fentoine\_Lum](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/b77776/32.png) [@Fentoine\_Lum](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fentoine_Lum)\ **Post date:** [October 6, 2019, 7:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trumps-high-fundraising-numbers-is-it-going-to-make-any-practical-difference/836418/28 "2019-10-06T19:44:03Z")
> [@Icarus](#): > > No cites, but I seem to recall that he was actually very underfunded last time, and still won. Maybe this time he’ll spend oodles and it will have the opposite effect? I think we all pretty much know how closely funding tracks with “winning” elections over time in america. ---
**Author:** ![Fentoine\_Lum](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/b77776/32.png) [@Fentoine\_Lum](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fentoine_Lum)\ **Post date:** [October 6, 2019, 7:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trumps-high-fundraising-numbers-is-it-going-to-make-any-practical-difference/836418/29 "2019-10-06T19:45:55Z")
> [@dalej42](#): > > An interesting point about Trump is that his base is heavily rural and that makes it much harder to canvass as they’re so spread out. Relying on a volunteer who has to drive around rural Iowa during a 2 hour volunteer shift means you’re simply not reaching many voters during that time. Whereas if I canvass for Pete in my very densely populated neighborhood in Chicago, I can reach a lot of voters in that 2 hour volunteer shift. So, I can imagine Trump needing more paid staff that are willing to work 40 hours a week. May need to hire “illegals” like he and Ivanka do in their other scams. ---
**Author:** ![RioRico](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/f04885/32.png) [@RioRico](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RioRico)\ **Post date:** [October 7, 2019, 8:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trumps-high-fundraising-numbers-is-it-going-to-make-any-practical-difference/836418/30 "2019-10-07T20:49:03Z")
Wage-slave Trampsters send contributions to a self-proclaimed billionaire… who raised their taxes via tariffs and twice tweeted, “Confiscate guns first, due process later”. Am I justified in questioning many citizens’ IQ and sanity? ---
**Author:** ![Euphonious\_Polemic](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/euphonious_polemic/32/3002_2.png) [@Euphonious\_Polemic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Euphonious_Polemic)\ **Post date:** [October 7, 2019, 9:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trumps-high-fundraising-numbers-is-it-going-to-make-any-practical-difference/836418/31 "2019-10-07T21:58:49Z")
> [@RioRico](#): > > Wage-slave Trampsters send contributions to a self-proclaimed billionaire… who raised their taxes via tariffs and twice tweeted, “Confiscate guns first, due process later”. > > Am I justified in questioning many citizens’ IQ and sanity? There are many examples of cults out there. Some of them have had such a strong grip on their members that they have committed mass suicide at the urging of the leader. This is how strong a cult can be. Don’t underestimate it’s power. ---
**Author:** ![Boycott](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/boycott/32/6741_2.png) [@Boycott](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Boycott)\ **Post date:** [October 7, 2019, 9:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trumps-high-fundraising-numbers-is-it-going-to-make-any-practical-difference/836418/32 "2019-10-07T21:59:05Z")
According to Trump, Hunter Biden has $1.5 billion from the Chinese government so I’m sure he can lend his dad a bit! ---
**Author:** ![Velocity](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/velocity/32/18006_2.png) [@Velocity](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Velocity)\ **Post date:** [October 21, 2019, 3:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trumps-high-fundraising-numbers-is-it-going-to-make-any-practical-difference/836418/33 "2019-10-21T03:44:24Z")
Trump is pouring a lot of money into Internet ads: > **[Trump Campaign Floods Web With Ads, Raking In Cash as Democrats Struggle...](https://www.nytimes.com/2019/10/20/us/elections/trump-campaign-ads-democrats.html)** > > That campaigns are now being fought largely online is hardly a revelation, yet only one political party seems to have gotten the message. ---
**Author:** ![That\_Don\_Guy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/that_don_guy/32/538_2.png) [@That\_Don\_Guy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/That_Don_Guy)\ **Post date:** [October 21, 2019, 5:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trumps-high-fundraising-numbers-is-it-going-to-make-any-practical-difference/836418/34 "2019-10-21T17:27:57Z")
Much difference in his campaign? Probably not. However, I wouldn’t be surprised if some of the money doesn’t end up going into campaigns for Senators in close races. Is the money Trump is raising necessarily for his own campaign? ---
**Author:** ![Velocity](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/velocity/32/18006_2.png) [@Velocity](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Velocity)\ **Post date:** [October 21, 2019, 5:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trumps-high-fundraising-numbers-is-it-going-to-make-any-practical-difference/836418/35 "2019-10-21T17:30:20Z")
> [@That\_Don\_Guy](#): > > Much difference in his campaign? Probably not. > > However, I wouldn’t be surprised if some of the money doesn’t end up going into campaigns for Senators in close races. Is the money Trump is raising necessarily for his own campaign? Considering how steep an uphill climb he faces for reelection, I would be surprised if the Trump campaign felt that any of the $$ could be spared for any electoral races other than his alone. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/trumps-high-fundraising-numbers-is-it-going-to-make-any-practical-difference/836418.md?page=1)