Is it always the one who has the most money for their campaign who wins the election? The answer is no, but without millions of dollars in financing, you don't have a chance.
Obama was not particularly rich when he broke through. His campaign was very dependent on small donations at first. But larger donations are necessary if you get through and become a serious candidate, says Dag Blanck.
The 2020 American election cost 14 billion dollars, according to the independent research institute Center for Responsive Politics. It was more than the elections in 2016 and 2012 combined. Of that money, the presidential campaigns accounted for 5.7 billion dollars, equivalent to 62 billion Swedish kronor.
The richest has not won since 2012
If you disregard support from other political groups and only count the campaign funds, the one with the next largest war chest has won the last two elections.
In 2020, multimillionaire Michael Bloomberg, who financed his own campaign, had the largest expenses at 1.1 billion dollars, closely followed by Joe Biden, according to the election authority FEC.
In 2016, Hillary Clinton had clearly larger collected campaign funds than Donald Trump had.
To run a successful campaign, however, millions are required for personnel salaries, local rents, and above all, advertising on TV and social media.
TV companies earn very large sums of money during election years. When the campaign funds start to run out weeks before the election, the candidates must prioritize which states they want to send their TV ads to. Previously, one would at least choose states that are cheap to send ads to and where one has a chance to win, says Dag Blanck.
Prestige with many small donations
In 2020, campaign collections consisted of only a fifth of what is considered small donations, those of up to 200 dollars, according to BBC. So far, 40 percent of Kamala Harris' collected funds consist of donations under 200 dollars, and 31 percent of Trump's, according to Center for Responsive Politics.
Having many small contributions is something the candidates like to boast about, says Karin Henriksson, journalist and USA expert.
