INQUISITR.COM / News & Politics

Is Donald Trump Really Self-Funding? Trump Receives $7.5 Million In Donations, Nearly One-Third Of Funds From Donors

By Tara West
Published on: 07:53 PST, Mar 5, 2016

Donald Trump has touted that he is self-funding his campaign with his own money. However, it has been reported that the self-funding hasn’t stopped Trump from maintaining a donation button on his campaign website. Therefore, some wondered exactly how much the “self-funded” political campaign had received in donations since Trump announced he would be running for the presidency. Recent Federal Election Commission filings indicate that nearly one-third of Trump’s funds, 29.3 percent to be exact, came from donors. This equals $7.5 million in donations, as reported on the businessman’s most recent filling. However, how does that stack up compared to his competitors, including Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders?

ABC News reports that presidential hopeful and GOP front-runner Donald Trump took in $7.5 million in donations between April 2015 and January 2016. Although Trump has proclaimed he is self-funding his entire campaign, he has acknowledged that he does allow supporters to make funds donations as well as make contributions via the purchasing of Trump for President gear. His most recent FEC filing reveals he has received $7.5 million from donors and that he has personally contributed, mostly through self-funded loans, over $18 million.

Although Trump has received donations from contributors, he has been very vocal about who he will take donations from for his campaign. Trump has been adamant that he will not and has not accepted funds from special interest groups, and his FEC filing reveals the majority of his donations — over $5.6 million — were under $200. In fact, it was noted that many of the “donations” were likely the result of the merchandise that the presidential hopeful sold on his campaign website. For example, the purchase of a $30 trucker hat is a large enough purchase to show up on the filing. The “under $200” contributions are not split up by straight donations and gear purchases, so it is unknown exactly how much of the donations are actually purchase of Trump’s “Make America Great Again” gear.

As far as large contributions go, Trump only has $1.8 million in itemized contributions, which are contributions over $200. In total, Trump had 5,550 itemized deductions. Trump’s smaller portion of donors is likely due to the businessman’s constant proclamation at events that he doesn’t want donor money but rather simply their vote.

Although $7.5 million may sound like a lot on the surface, in regards to campaign contributions it is nothing. Hillary Clinton’s latest FEC filing shows she has received over $122 million in donor contributions. Of those contributions, over $100 million were itemized. Likewise, Bernie Sanders has received over $94 million in campaign donations with over $27 million itemized.

For other Republican contenders, Trump also came in significantly lower on accepted donations. Ted Cruz has received over $54 million from donors with over $31 million itemized. Similarly, Marco Rubio has taken in an astonishing $33 million with $27 million itemized. Therefore, Hillary Clinton taking in over $114.5 million more than Trump, the Trump for President campaign can continue to tout their self-funding statements, as the businessman not only is taking in considerably less funds than all of his contenders but is also spending less with his total campaign budget, running significantly less than the other presidential hopefuls.

While Trump takes in considerably less in donations dollars from supporters, Cruz was criticized for spending $500,000 on anti-Trump ads in Texas alone.

What do you think of Donald Trump’s financial campaign breakdown? What do you think about the fact that Trump is dominating the GOP front and the Democratic front-runner, Hillary Clinton, is working with a donation budget of $114.5 million more than Trump? Did you know that presidential candidates like Hillary Clinton received such substantial donations in their bid for the presidency? Should more candidates “self-fund” with limited donation help?

[Photo by Gerald Herbert/AP]

Share this article: Is Donald Trump Really Self-Funding? Trump Receives $7.5 Million In Donations, Nearly One-Third Of Funds From Donors
hillary clinton bernie sanders Donald Trump Marco Rubio Ted Cruz
More from Inquisitr