These billions flooding the American presidential campaign – rts.ch

Never, in observer memory, has an American presidential election drained so much money: the 2024 electoral campaign will be the most expensive in history. The previous one had already won this title, with its 14 billion dollars in direct and external spending (super PAC), all candidates combined (White House and Congress). Just like the one before with 6.5 billion dollars injected…

For the moment, the two main candidates for the White House have collected 1.6 billion dollars in their names alone.

Behind these ever more colossal sums, we find super PACs, a sort of giant envelope, filled with unlimited and anonymous donations from individuals, businesses or organizations. An opaque financing system, which allows the richest to directly influence American politics, as demonstrated by the analysis of Electoral Commission data federal revealed by the Washington Post.

Rich donors are mostly Republicans

And the least we can say is that big American donors undeniably have their portfolios on the right: the most lavish among them exclusively support Republican super PACs, whether it is the campaign for the race for Congress or for the presidency of the country.

Like the billionaire Timothy Mellon, who has so far slipped a whopping $125 million into the purse of the pro-Trump super PAC “Make America great again inc.”, including 40% of this sum the day after the criminal conviction of the former president in the Stormy Daniels affair. “Make America Great Again Inc” is the top-spending super PAC in the race for the White House, with 160 million used since 2023 alone to oppose Joe Biden then Kamala Harris.

On the Democratic side, it is the former mayor of New York and media man Michael Bloomberg who comes out on top, with 19 million paid to a super PAC in direct support of Kamala Harris and more than 42 million invested in total for the Democratic cause .

In businesses, a completely different scenario is emerging. Far ahead of traditional lobbies such as the fossil or pharmaceutical industry, or even the arms lobby, it is the tech sector, and first and foremost that of cryptocurrencies, which is most generously irrigating the campaign. Particularity: he finances each of the two candidates, a sign of his desire to influence American financial policy in the future.

The weight of super PACs

How to explain this escalation? The starting signal was given in 2010, after the Supreme Court’s decision “Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission” allowed the appearance of super PACs, a kind of giant envelope authorizing unlimited and anonymous donations of individuals, businesses or organizations. Only one prohibition: these envelopes must remain independent of candidates and parties. Since 2012, these sums have therefore mainly been used to finance advertising campaigns, most of which aim to discredit the opposing candidate.

But this year, according to analysis of data from the Federal Election Commission by Politicothe strategy applied by Democratic super PACs diverges from previous elections. While in 2020 and 2016, ads primarily aimed to oppose Donald Trump by creating negative content, they are now focused on raising awareness of Kamala Harris and explaining her political vision. Result: voters in key states, the famous swing states, are bombarded with much more content, whether positive or negative, about the candidate than about her opponent, making her omnipresent both on the networks and on television or the radio.

In 2016, Hillary Clinton spent more money than Donald Trump on advertising, but it was largely the latter’s constant media presence that won him the election.

The weight of small donors

However, as powerful and rich as they are, super PACs are not the only ones shaping the campaign. Those donating less than $200 directly to candidates’ campaign committees account for a significant portion of the funds raised. These small donors even contribute 42% of the total sums raised by Kamala Harris’ campaign committee, compared to 32% for Donald Trump’s.

Cécile Denayrouse