Ondertussen lijkt Trump wel aardig gunstig voor de Democraten waar het op fundraising aankomt:
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Trump serves as rocket fuel for Democratic fundraising
Angry small donors plow millions into campaigns.
Democrats are on a torrid fundraising pace in the first months of the Donald Trump era, powered by enraged small donors who are plowing millions of dollars worth of online contributions into campaign and committee treasuries.
A POLITICO analysis of new federal disclosures suggests many Democratic Senate incumbents — particularly those who have been most outspoken in their resistance to Trump — are on a trajectory to raise more money online than ever before in a non-election year. That could help level the fundraising playing field at a time when Republicans are poised to reap the financial rewards of holding all the levers of power in Washington.
While comprehensive campaign finance data for both parties in the first quarter of 2017 won’t be released until next month, February figures reported to the Federal Election Commission by ActBlue, the left-leaning online fundraising platform, suggests both members of Congress and many progressive groups are harnessing the energy of town halls and marches and translating it into a surge of online fundraising well in advance of the 2018 election season.
Jon Ossoff, the Democratic candidate for an open House seat in Georgia, raised nearly $2.1 million online last month for his April special election. That’s more than Tom Price, the Republican who held the seat until his appointment as HHS Secretary, spent over the course of his entire 2016 campaign.
“Being in opposition tends to mobilize people, and being in opposition to a President Donald Trump tends to really mobilize people,” said Teddy Goff, a top digital aide to both Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton, noting that online donors are often repeat contributors. “The heartening thing for the party — our candidates and incumbent office-holders, as well as new groups like Indivisible — is people aren’t just angry. They want to go out and do things, like marches around the country, and the fundraising numbers [reflect that]."
In February alone — and just online — Missouri Sen. Claire McCaskill, a top GOP target in 2018, brought in over $212,000 in donations of under $200 through ActBlue. That’s over four times as much as she raised in small donations across all platforms — online or through more traditional fundraising means — in the first quarter of 2011, the comparable period in her last re-election campaign.
New York Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand, meanwhile, raised at least $637,000 in small online donations last month — over six times more than she raised in total small-dollar contributions in the first quarter of 2011. Connecticut Sen. Chris Murphy has been informing his constituents that he’s getting close to receiving as many individual contributions as he did during his entire 2012 campaign, when he got 64,704. He earned nearly $650,000 online in February.
“The 2016 election was humbling for Claire, and she is doubling her efforts to travel to every corner of the state to listen and show her respect for Missouri voters. She’s way more focused on that than on raising money,” said Erika Brees, the McCaskill campaign’s finance director. “But she’s very excited about the energy she feels, which we hope will be reflected in her fundraising this quarter."
The hyperactivated online fundraising recorded by numerous senators has party leaders rethinking their original assumptions about 2018 Senate map, where Democrats will be defending 25 seats compared to just 9 for Republicans. Already, campaign officials are using the rarely-before-seen levels of online cash to rewrite their budgets and adjust their advertising and hiring timelines.
There’s no GOP version of ActBlue, so most of the Republican campaign fundraising figures — online and otherwise — will be released for the first time next month.
But with control of the House, Senate and the White House, Republicans currently occupy the commanding heights of fundraising. Early signs indicate that the Trump era has been lucrative for them, too — a dinner for the House GOP’s campaign wing featuring Trump last week brought in a record $30 million. The party’s Senate campaign group raised $9.3 million over January and February, compared to Democrats’ $7.5 million.
The National Republican Senatorial Campaign Committee has seen its online revenue rise by 150 percent this cycle compared to 2015, and its number of online donations — 99 percent of which are under $200 — rose 205 percent compared to two years ago, according to a committee aide.
What’s not clear is whether there is the same across-the-board surge. On the Democratic side, a wide range of progressive groups are also reporting online fundraising spikes — mini-versions of the ACLU’s now-famous $24 million weekend in January after Trump’s initial travel ban was implemented. One group, the Congressional Hispanic Caucus’ BOLD PAC, raised at least $555,000 online in February — more than it collected from individual donors during the entire first quarter of last year.
“What we’re seeing is a massive number of people who are either scared or concerned or shocked [by] somebody like Donald Trump with all his vitriolic negativity and his attacks on people,” said California Rep. Tony Cardenas, BOLD PAC’s chairman, noting that his group’s average donation in February was $12. “People are blown away and surprised, and as a result they’re getting off their rear-end one way or another, and a way we’re seeing it is an influx of donations."
“Trump is the gift that keeps on giving,” he added.
The outpouring of cash can't come soon enough for the Democratic Party, which has sunk to one of its lowest levels in a century as Republicans control Washington, as well as 33 governors’ mansions and 66 of the country’s 99 state legislative bodies.
The biggest Democratic donors were demoralized by Hillary Clinton’s defeat, and many remain frustrated with politics after giving record amounts of cash to Clinton only to see her lose. Some of those contributors feel let down, and four months later, they are reluctant to fork over large sums in the absence of a formal campaign post-mortem report from either the Clinton campaign or the Democratic National Committee.
Small donors, however, have stepped into the void, enabling many Democrats to bust through their online goals in recent weeks — particularly when the Trump administration has high-profile missteps or moments that have captured the country’s attention.
Democrats minted money online in February -- which saw the beginning of the fight over Trump’s travel ban and individual moments such as Sen. Elizabeth Warren’s stand against now-Attorney General Jeff Sessions, when she was silenced by Majority Leader Mitch McConnell. As Bernie Sanders’ presidential campaign demonstrated, individual rallying moments can create short-term, online fundraising bonanzas.
Warren raised over $1.1 million online over the course of the month. Gillibrand — who gained national attention for her opposition to nearly all of Trump’s cabinet picks — raked in $1.4 million online.
“It’s clear that there’s more energy at the grassroots level than I’ve seen in my lifetime, any election cycle — midterm or presidential,” said strategist Joe Trippi, who managed the 2004 Howard Dean presidential campaign that’s widely seen as the first such bid to begin harnessing online fundraising tools.
“This isn’t big donors giving Jeb Bush or a super PAC $100 million. [It’s] small donations from a lot of people who I’m sure have not given in a midterm election before [and] what it signals is not just money. You’re seeing more people volunteer. It’s not just donor activism."
PoliticoEn nog wat approval rating nieuws:
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Poll: Health care debacle takes toll on Trump
Voter perceptions of President Donald Trump’s job performance have eroded following the failure of a long-promised health care bill through Congress, according to a new POLITICO/Morning Consult poll.
Trump’s approval rating dropped to 46 percent in this week’s survey, the poll shows, down from 50 percent a week prior. For the first time in POLITICO/Morning Consult’s polling since Trump’s inauguration, more voters now disapprove of his job performance — 50 percent in this week’s poll — than approve.
While disapproval of Trump only narrowly exceeds his approval rating, the intensity gap between opponents and supporters of Trump is far wider. Overall, 38 percent of voters strongly disapprove of Trump, compared to only 23 percent who strongly approve.
Other polls have been consistently even more negative for Trump, who hasn’t benefited from the same honeymoon from Americans that other recent presidents have enjoyed. A sustained slide in Trump’s poll numbers after pulling the health care bill, however, could threaten Trump’s other legislative priorities, including his plans to overhaul the U.S. tax system.
"President Trump's approval ratings are at their lowest point since he took office, according to the weekly POLITICO/Morning Consult surveys," said Kyle Dropp, Morning Consult’s co-founder and chief research officer. "However, as this week's results represent a relatively sharp departure from the recent trendline, we will keep a close watch in subsequent weeks before drawing major conclusions."
The decline in Trump’s approval rating was sharper among Republicans and independents than among Democrats. In the latest survey, 81 percent of Republicans and 39 percent of independents approve of the job Trump is doing. A week prior, 85 percent of GOP voters and 44 percent approved. And among those who self-identified as Trump voters last year, the president’s approval rating shrunk from 90 percent last week to 84 percent this week.
Voters aren’t very assured that Trump will be able to get things done in the White House, the poll shows. Only 26 percent say they are “very confident” in his ability to serve as president, with another 21 percent saying they are “somewhat confident.” But 13 percent are “not too confident,” and 36 percent aren’t “at all” confident.
The 2010 Affordable Care Act, which Trump and congressional Republicans were seeking to replace, continues to increase in popularity. Half of voters now approve of the law, compared to 43 percent who disapprove. Approval for the law has increased 4 percentage points from last week, and 9 points from early January.
While Trump and House Republicans say they are regrouping after last week’s fiasco, only 37 percent of voters want the GOP to continue with their efforts to repeal and replace Obamacare — fewer than the 51 percent who want the party to move on to other things. But among Republican voters, there’s more appetite to keep fighting: twice as many want the GOP to keep trying, 62 percent, than the 30 percent who want the party to move on.
The poll was conducted March 24-25 — entirely after Trump and House Republicans canceled at the last moment a vote on the American Health Care Act, which was designed to replace many of the Obamacare provisions. The poll surveyed 1,991 voters and has a margin of error of plus or minus 2 percentage.
Trump’s presidency continues to be plagued by questions about links between his team and the Russian government. And while the investigations continue with little clarity, one measure suggests voters are more troubled by the allegations.
Twenty-nine percent of voters call Russia an “enemy” of the U.S., and 30 percent say it is an unfriendly nation. Only 7 percent call Russia an “ally,” and another 22 percent say it’s friendly but not an ally. Five weeks ago, voters were divided evenly on whether Russia was friendly toward the United States.
But voters are split on whether Russia “influenced the results” of the 2016 election: 41 percent say yes, while 40 percent say no.
One brighter spot for Trump in the poll are views of Neil Gorsuch, the federal appellate judge Trump has nominated to fill a vacancy on the Supreme Court. A plurality of voters, 44 percent, think the Senate should confirm Gorsuch, while only 23 percent say they Senate shouldn’t confirm Gorsuch. With a vote on Gorsuch’s nomination tentatively slated for next week, a third of voters don’t know or don’t have an opinion on whether Gorsuch should be confirmed.
Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) has vowed to force Gorsuch to earn a supermajority, and the poll shows voters support a 60-vote threshold. More than half, 55 percent, say a nominee to the high court should require 60 votes to be approved, while just 21 percent think the threshold should be lowered to a simple majority.
But while there’s little support for changing Senate rules, Dropp said there’s also limited opposition to Gorsuch among Democratic voters.
"As Senate Democrats are considering whether to dig-in their heels against Neil Gorsuch, many Democratic voters aren't actively opposed to his nomination,” said Dropp. “While 39 percent of Democrats do think Gorsuch should be blocked, 25 percent think he should be confirmed, and 36 percent don’t know or don’t have an opinion.”
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