Establishment Republican donors once hopeful of elevating a candidate other than Donald Trump are growing increasingly resigned to Trump’s dominance. Many are hesitant to give financial contributions, with only 66 individual donors contributing $250,000 or more to GOP presidential primary super PACs through the end of June – a 24 percent drop compared to this time in 2016.
“Trump’s like 50 points ahead,” said one New York-based donor. “Who wants to get involved and waste money?”
Trump, who is running a small-dollar fundraising campaign, has received grassroots donations of $23.7 million through June, which is more than twice the combined grassroots donations of other GOP candidates.
Ron DeSantis, once considered the man most likely to dethrone Trump, appears to be losing the blessing of the donor classing as he slides in the polls, with some looking Nikki Haley instead. Haley garnered 12 percent support in a recent CNN/University of New Hampshire poll, nearly matching the Florida Governor, and a few have already put money on Haley, such as billionaire WhatsApp co-founder Jan Koum, venture capitalist Tim Draper, and venture capitalist Steven Stull.
