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Number of small donors in 2023

Trump Leads Biden in Number of Small Donors

By Albert Sun, K.K. Rebecca Lai, Andrew Fischer and Rebecca Davis O’Brien

Former President Donald J. Trump was trailing President Biden in overall campaign cash on hand at the end of 2023, but he dominated fund-raising last year by at least one critical measure: his number of small donors. An analysis of Federal Election Commission data by The New York Times shows that about 668,000 donors gave less than $200 to Mr. Trump, compared with 564,000 for Mr. Biden.

More Trump Small Donors
Battleground states
States
TRUMP DONORS
BIDEN DONORS
Pa.
23,000
20,000
N.H.
4,000
4,000
Wis.
9,000
8,000
N.C.
20,000
16,000
Iowa
5,000
4,000
Mich.
20,000
15,000
Ohio
21,000
15,000
Mo.
12,000
7,000
Ky.
7,000
4,000
Ind.
12,000
7,000
Ga.
21,000
13,000
Kan.
6,000
3,000
Fla.
69,000
39,000
Neb.
4,000
2,000
Utah
7,000
3,000
Ariz.
24,000
12,000
Mont.
3,000
2,000
Alaska
2,000
1,000
W.Va.
3,000
1,000
Tenn.
16,000
7,000
Nev.
10,000
5,000
Texas
67,000
30,000
S.C.
13,000
6,000
Ark.
6,000
2,000
S.D.
2,000
1,000
N.D.
1,000
1,000
Idaho
6,000
2,000
Okla.
9,000
3,000
Ala.
10,000
4,000
La.
9,000
3,000
Wyo.
2,000
1,000
Miss.
5,000
1,000
More Biden Small Donors
 
States
TRUMP DONORS
BIDEN DONORS
Colo.
13,000
14,000
N.J.
17,000
18,000
Va.
16,000
17,000
Ill.
18,000
20,000
Minn.
9,000
10,000
Hawaii
2,000
2,000
N.M.
5,000
5,000
R.I.
2,000
2,000
N.Y.
30,000
40,000
Wash.
16,000
22,000
Calif.
72,000
99,000
Ore.
9,000
13,000
Conn.
6,000
9,000
Maine
3,000
4,000
Del.
2,000
4,000
Md.
9,000
15,000
Mass.
11,000
20,000
Vt.
1,000
2,000
D.C.
<1K
4,000

Bars show the number of individual donors who gave less than $200 to either candidate in 2023. Numbers are estimates because of potential duplicate names or donations within the data.

Small donors have always been intrinsic to Mr. Trump’s political momentum. Not only have they powered his three presidential bids, but they are also a vital measure of his broad appeal to an immovable grass-roots base. Most large donors have so far kept their distance from Mr. Trump this cycle.

Mr. Biden, in contrast, has drawn ample support from big donors, who are not reflected in this dataset. One measure of voter enthusiasm is strong support from small donors. Individual donors can give repeatedly, up to $3,300 to a candidate’s campaign fund for a primary, and another $3,300 for the general election.

Mr. Trump also has more small donors than Mr. Biden in the critical battleground states of Pennsylvania, Wisconsin, North Carolina, Michigan, Georgia, Arizona and Nevada, The Times analysis shows.

There are a few factors that could help explain Mr. Trump’s lead. First, Mr. Trump started his presidential bid in late 2022, and had a running start into 2023, while Mr. Biden did not formally declare that he was seeking re-election until April.

First-time small donors in 2023

Lines show the number of unique individual donors each day who gave less than $200 to either Trump or Biden for the first time in 2023.

Mr. Trump has also benefited from an unusual set of circumstances: His two biggest fund-raising moments of 2023 came on the days that state officials in New York and Georgia charged and booked him, in April and in August. The criminal cases against him have served as catalysts for his fund-raising operation.

Methodology

Data includes donations reported to the Federal Election Commission by the Trump campaign, the Trump Save America Joint Fundraising Committee, Trump Victory joint fund-raising committee, the Biden campaign, the Biden Victory Fund joint fund-raising committee and the Biden Action Fund joint fund-raising committee. Additional donations processed on behalf of those committees and reported by the online fund-raising platforms ActBlue and WinRed are also included.

The estimated number of individual donors was determined based on a unique combination of contributor name, state and ZIP code. Donors with invalid addresses were filtered out of the analysis. Dates of first donation were determined by the earliest contribution date for a unique individual donor to a campaign of a 2024 presidential candidate.

All donations are from Jan. 1, 2023, through Dec. 31, 2023.