After about six weeks of being stuck in New York court, former president and presumptive Republican nominee Donald Trump is finally able to get back on the campaign trail uninterrupted. Due to Judge Juan Merchan’s decision ordering Trump to be present at every court hearing in the hush-money case, Trump had limited time to hold rallies and fundraising events across the country. With Thursday’s guilty verdict, the trial has finally come to an end, meaning that Trump is now a free man, at least when it comes to continuing his presidential campaign.
Fundraising efforts
Trump’s campaign officials confirmed that the former president raised whooping $52.8 million in just 24 hours after the guilty verdict. As soon as the verdict was announced on Thursday late in the afternoon, thousands of people decided to donate and support Trump, causing Trump’s donation platform to briefly crash. Despite Trump’s new status as a “convicted felon,” numerous experts concur that the conviction could potentially harm Democrats and President Joe Biden, who is lagging behind Trump in national polls, including in the crucial battleground states.
Trump fundraising efforts so far
Trump’s campaign still lags behind Biden’s. For months, big donors hesitated to open their wallets, mostly due to Trump’s legal cases and spending campaign money to cover his mounting legal bills. However, in recent weeks, a growing number of super-donors have rallied behind Trump and many of them confirmed huge donations to support his bid to return to office. While Trump has stepped up his fundraising, the Biden campaign still enjoyed an $84 million to $49 million cash-on-hand advantage at the end of April, Fox News reported.
Trump is heading to California
As a “free” man, Trump is now looking to make up for lost time. He plans to visit California soon, specifically San Francisco. On June 6, he will be there for a fundraiser hosted by two venture capitalists in this well-known liberal city. The cheapest ticket for this event is priced at $50,000. According to a political expert, Trump is likely to aggressively fundraise for his campaign during this visit.
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A turning point
Receiving a guilty verdict has been financially beneficial for Donald Trump. The Republican presidential candidate is also offering his supporters a chance to win a signed MAGA hat if they donate to his campaign.
“They believe this is red meat and dark liquor thrown to their constituency,” said David McCuan, chair of political science at Sonoma State University. “I mean this is right up their alley because they know or they can raise money from this. They can develop some momentum.”
McCuan is confident that the momentum will continue into the fundraising event in California. Despite California being a predominantly blue state where Democrats have consistently won for a long time, it doesn’t affect fundraising efforts. McCuan describes California as the nation’s ATM for political contributions.
“It’s not just a blue state. It’s a red state. It’s green money state. It’s a dollar state,” he added. “Look Elon Musk may be here and all over the world and may be intergalactic but he and his friends give a lot of money.”
The presidential race
According to aggregated data from The Hill, Trump currently holds a 1.5% lead based on 720 polls, an increase from 1.2% when the guilty verdict was announced on Thursday. More significantly, Trump is ahead of Biden in several crucial battleground states. The data indicates Trump has a 3.3% lead in Arizona, 4.5% in Georgia, 1.3% in Michigan, 3.3% in Nevada, 3.9% in North Carolina, 1.5% in Pennsylvania, and a 0.1% lead in Wisconsin.
It’s important to note that victory in November will require both candidates to gain support from key voter groups.
