The major candidates running for U.S president, along with an even larger number of independent groups supporting them, raised an unprecedented $388 million in the first half of the year. So where did all this money come from?
Jeb Bush
Jeb Bush was the fundraising leader in the first half of 2016, pulling in $115 million, mostly through his super-PAC. Not surprisingly, the former Florida governor leaned heavily on his home state, but he also picked up large checks from across the country. He had a lower number of donations than some of his rivals—possibly because he waited until later in the year to declare his candidacy and become eligible to accept direct campaign contributions.
Marco Rubio
Marco Rubio’s donor base looks a lot like Bush’s, just smaller. In addition to his super-PAC, he’s getting support from a politically active nonprofit group that raised $15.8 million and doesn’t have to disclose the identities—or locations—of its donors.
Scott Walker
Scott Walker also has a national fundraising profile. There aren’t many small donations because he declared for the presidency in July and therefore was unable to collect any direct campaign contributions in the first half of the year.
Hillary Clinton
Hillary Clinton’s contributors skew more toward the coasts than the leading Republicans’, and didn't write any checks larger than about $1 million.
Bernie Sanders
Most of sanders’ cash came from donors who gave such small amounts—under $200—that their names and addresses weren’t required to be disclosed. Sanders attracted small-dollar contributions from across the country while discouraging the formation of any super-PACs to support him.
Sanders is not the only one who is depending primarily on small donations from across the country. Ben Carson, Mike Huckabee, and Rand Paul fit that pattern to some degree.
Donald Trump
The billionaire Donald Trump is largely self-funding his campaign and didn’t solicit donations in the first half. A few trickled in anyway, from all over the place.
Ted Cruz
Ted Cruz’s supporters are both widespread and well-heeled. His campaign gathered a large number of small checks from across the country, and his superPACs got huge donations from three families, in New York, Texas, and Puerto Rico. (The Puerto Rico donation is from Toby Neugebauer, a retired private-equity fund manager who recently moved to the territory from Texas.)
Bush vs. Clinton
Now for the matchups. Here’s Bush vs. Clinton. The former Florida governor dominates his home state. Clinton wins the West Coast and Colorado.
Clinton vs. Sanders
Even though Sanders raised much less than Clinton, he had more small-dollar support in some parts of the country outside of major cities.
Carson vs. Sanders
They come from opposite parties, but Sanders and Carson were both standouts when it came to small-dollar fundraising.
Bush vs. Carson
Two of the top Republican contenders had very different fundraising strategies. Bush spent most of the first half of 2015 raising big checks for his super-PAC, while Carson raked in small amounts from across the country.
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