Florida Senator Marco Rubio raised only $6 million in August, down from $12 million during the previous three months. Although he survived the brutal summer during which two candidates dropped out from lack of funding, his financial base is still weakening. Rubio's steadily decreasing poll numbers certainly do not contradict this.
Rubio shared the figure at a gathering of supporters in Las Vegas. Many analysts believe that Republican donors are hesitating to support Rubio, who has enjoyed much popularity over the past few years as the fresh modern face of the GOP. Now, however, outsider candidates with no political experience, like Ben Carson and Donald Trump, still dominate the polls in a way that drastically changes the historical precedent. Mr. Carson has raised $20 million in the past month, through largely small donors.
On the flip side, August is traditionally a slow period for campaign financing because many donors are on vacation. Not to mention, Rubio still retains $11 million, $3 million of which are contributions he transferred from his senate campaign at the start of the race.
What do you guys think about this? Why has Rubio seen a lack of financing recently? Is it his fault? Has campaign funding become more important than popular opinion in determining a candidate's success?
Sources:
http://www.nytimes.com/politics/first-draft/2015/10/08/marco-rubios-fund-raising-pace-slows/?ref=politics&_r=0
http://www.newsmax.com/Politics/rubio-fundraisingfalls/2015/10/08/id/695376/
http://www.msnbc.com/sites/msnbc/files/2013/02/rubio.jpg
2 comments:
I believe that a growing number of people are considering fundraising as a big indicator for the candidate's success. However, in my opinion this should not be the case. Campaigning has become more and more a game of wealth over the years - only the candidates with the most money can reach the final rounds of election. This is not good because extremely qualified individuals who could do a great job leading our nation are being limited by their wealth, or rather lack there of. In regards to Rubio I think that too much focus is being put on how much he has raised. Like the article said, not many donors are active in August, therefore it is difficult to judge his success based on these summer months. However, despite how unfair it may be, I do believe that an additional reason Rubio has not seen as much success fundraising as the other candidates, such as Carson and Tump, is because he didn't start off with the money. As a result of not beginning his campaign already having considerable funding he was unable to spend as much of his money on advertising as Trump and Carson because of the greater need to focus on costs such as travel and paying for his team. Further reasoning to why he may not be seeing as much financial success is due to the fact that he does not have as much of a name already established as Trump nor anything that particularly distinguishes him from the other Republican candidates, most of whom share relatively the same platform as Rubio. Overall, it is not so much Rubio's fault that he is not bringing in much financial support recently. The problem lies in the time of the year as well as the new focus that Americans hold on the starting wealth of the candidates. By eliminating wealth as a factor, the playing field would be leveled and elections would reflect more of the American ideal that hard work is rewarded.
Rubio is not seeing success in the polls because he has not differentiated himself among the throng of Republican candidates, and he's running a traditional campaign. He isn't generating campaign money for that same reason. Trump is doing well in the polls and holding popularity because he is always making news and being heard nationally. The way he's hijacked the media and garnered a following in spite of his lack of traditional, door-to-door campaigning attests the changing face of politics in the information age. Naturally, Rubio must either play into the overwhelming trend of attacking other candidates through social media and national television interviews, or reveal some concrete policy that will show he means business. Right now, the public isn't taking him seriously, which is why his fundraising efforts are falling flat. He isn't marketing himself as a viable, plausible front-runner. He is running a traditional campaign against nontraditional and unorthodox opponents, when he should be matching their efforts in order to gain traction.
Post a Comment