Where does so much money come from?

The 2024 US presidential election is on track to be the most expensive in modern history. Billions of dollars are pouring into campaigns, but where is all the money coming from?

As of mid-October 2024, candidates and allied groups in the 2024 US election campaign have raised a total of more than $3.8 billion. (Source: Daily Kos)

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When Joe Biden dropped out of the 2024 White House race and endorsed Vice President Kamala Harris to face former President Donald Trump, it triggered a huge influx of money into the Democratic Party.

Within 24 hours of Harris announcing her candidacy, $81 million poured into her campaign.

Harris’s campaign has set a new record, raising $1 billion in just three months, three times what Trump’s campaign raised. She enters October 2024 with a large cash advantage over Trump. Harris has also outscored her opponent in the battle for small donors.

Still, Mr. Trump has plenty of money. He raised $160 million as of September 2024.

At an event in June 2024, the former president pocketed $50 million after speaking to donors for about 45 minutes. And thanks to his loyal base, when he was convicted of falsifying business records in May, Trump used his conviction to raise $52.8 million in about 24 hours.

As of mid-October 2024, candidates and allied groups had raised a total of more than $3.8 billion, with groups supporting President Biden and Ms. Harris raising $2.2 billion, compared to $1.7 billion for Mr. Trump’s group.

A recent analysis by Americans for Tax Fairness shows that the reason campaign funds have raised such a huge amount of money is partly because the 150 wealthiest families in the world's largest economy have poured nearly $1.9 billion into this year's election campaign.

This figure is a sharp increase compared to the $1.2 billion they contributed to the 2020 campaign.

Revealing sponsorship regulations

In the United States, campaign finance is governed by a series of laws, intended to prevent corruption while promoting transparency. The Federal Election Commission (FEC) enforces these rules.

Individuals, organizations, and companies can contribute to political campaigns, but there are limits on the amount they can contribute directly to candidates.

Individuals often contribute the majority of any candidate's campaign funds.

Wealthier donors tend to give more. Individuals can legally donate up to $3,300 per candidate and per election in 2024.

Both parties have federal and state committees that raise money. Candidates can also self-fund, as Mr. Trump did. He spent his own money on his White House bid, raising $66 million in the 2016 race.

Previously, billionaire Ross Perot donated $60 million to his 1992 independent campaign, winning 19% of the popular vote.

In the 2020 Democratic primary, former New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg spent $1.1 billion, while hedge fund manager Tom Steyer invested $342 million in his campaign.

Billionaire Elon Musk, a major donor to Donald Trump. (Source: Getty Images)

What is a Super PAC?

In US elections, political action committees (PACs) and super PACs play a huge role.

PACs pool contributions from members and donate to campaigns, with a limit of $5,000 per candidate per year. PACs often represent industries like oil, aerospace, or focus on issues like climate change...

Super PACs, meanwhile, are contributions from individuals, unions, and corporations. Unlike PACs, super PACs can donate unlimited amounts of money to independent organizations affiliated with candidates.

And that freedom allows the wealthy to pump as much money as they want into supporting their preferred candidates.

Public confidence shaken

The overwhelming influence of funding sources has caused public confidence in American democratic politics to decline dramatically.

According to a survey by the Pew Research Center, Americans' trust in government has plummeted from 52% in 1972 to 22% in April 2024.

Elon Musk - tech billionaire and the world's richest man - is a Trump supporter.

In July 2024, he planned to donate about $45 million per month to America PAC - a pro-Trump super PAC that he founded.

Mr Musk’s fundraising efforts — focused on voter registration and early voting in battleground states — have faced scrutiny.

Meanwhile, billionaire Miriam Adelson has donated $95 million to another super PAC supporting Mr. Trump.

The rise of “dark money” — donations that don’t require donors to be disclosed — also makes achieving transparency more difficult.

Non-profit OpenSecrets has reported an “unprecedented surge” in “dark money” in the 2023 and 2024 cycle, which could exceed $660 million from unknown sources.

In 2022, President Biden called “dark money” a “serious” threat to democracy and urged Congress to pass a campaign finance bill requiring political groups to disclose major donors.

Republicans in the Senate have blocked the bill.

The most important thing is not money

The question is, will the huge flow of money from billionaire super PACs decide the outcome of the 2024 election?

It is undeniable that the money of American billionaires contributes to the success of a candidate. Since the results of the US presidential election often depend on a number of battleground states, the billionaires "pump money" into such states to mobilize voters will help their favorite presidential candidate.

Consider Elon Musk's super PAC - America PAC. America PAC is focusing on campaigning in battleground states that could decide the election. America PAC has spent a lot of money on advertising and staff to knock on doors to encourage people to vote for Mr. Trump.

Still, the world's largest economy is home to about 800 billionaires, but there are about 244 million Americans eligible to vote in this year's election.

The answer has probably been emphasized by the American political analysis site Common Dreams : “Regardless of the amount of money that the super-rich put into this process, whether transparent or 'dark money', the outcome is still decided by the voters.”

Source: https://baoquocte.vn/bau-cu-my-2024-tien-o-dau-ma-nhieu-the-292595.html