Voters across Connecticut have already begun voting in the presidential primary, which is scheduled for Tuesday. The Connecticut Secretary of the State’s Office reported that, as of March 26, about 9,400 early votes had been cast in person or through absentee ballots.
A vote is one way to support candidates. But how much have Connecticut residents donated to them?
From January 2023 to February 2024, President Joe Biden has received $3.17 million in individual contributions from residents across Connecticut, according to data from the U.S. Federal Election Commission. Former President Donald Trump has received about $1.4 million. This analysis includes only individual donations to each candidate’s campaign and other related committees, similar to an analysis by the New York Times. Committee data included is from the Biden Victory Fund, the Biden Action Fund, Trump Victory and the Trump Save America Joint Fundraising Committee.
Most of the money Biden's campaign received in June 2023 was from two donors, according to federal records: Stephen and Susan Mandel of Greenwich each donated more than $400,000 to the Biden Action Fund.
Yet Trump had more donations, even when not taking into the account the head start he had in collecting donations due to formally announcing his candidacy earlier. He received 31,708 donations since 2023, compared to the 5,925 Biden received since April 2023. As the New York Times pointed out in its analysis, Trump received a boost of donations in April and August of last year when he was booked and charged.
Last month, Biden hit 1,000 individual donations from Connecticut for the first time since 2023, a feat Trump accomplished in early 2023.
Breaking those individual donations down even further, Trump received seven times more donations under $200 than Biden.
And his lead wasn't concentrated in a single area. He had more individual donations than Biden in most towns in Connecticut.