Five charts that show whether Trump or Harris is doing better in the donations race

The Telegraph analyzes the donations received by the presidential contenders

Donald Trump is raking in more in donations than Kamala Harris from working-class Americans, analysis by The Telegraph reveals.
Trump has raised more money than his rival from workers such as truck and taxi drivers, farmers, and tradespeople. He also has more support than Ms Harris among businessmen and chief executives, pilots, homemakers, and retirees. The latter contributed more than 50 per cent of Trump’s total donations.
Trump is also outraising Ms Harris in six out of seven swing states. The exception is Pennsylvania.
The Republican has reversed the trend which traditionally sees the Democrats receive smaller contributions from more donors—a key indicator of grassroots support. This election, Trump’s average donation is just $49 to Ms Harris’s $214.
However, Ms Harris is raising more money than Trump among voters in three-quarters of occupations. Out of 25 occupations that were analyzed, Ms Harris has raised more in donations than Trump among 18 since the start of the year. This included legal professionals, doctors, artists, teachers, and students.
Ms Harris had also raised $382 million more than Trump as of August 31, the latest day for which data from the US Federal Election Commission (FEC) is available.
The FEC oversees campaign finance and requires donors to give their occupation and address.
Analyzing this data shows that donations from 25 occupations are worth $320 million and account for two-fifths of total donations received by Trump and Ms Harris since January 1.
Among lawyers and other legal professionals, Ms Harris received nearly $28 million more than Trump, with around 90 per cent of all donations made by lawyers and legal professionals going to the vice president.
In total, one in 20 dollars raised by her campaign has come from this profession alone.
Engineers and doctors have also contributed a considerable amount to the Harris campaign, both around $16 million.
Notably, Ms Harris has received over 80 per cent of donations from students and graduates—a group that has little to spend and is generally quite critical of Joe Biden and Ms Harris’s support for Israel, as demonstrated by protests on campuses earlier this year.
Another group with little disposable income are farmers, but according to the donation data, they have a strong preference for Trump. Three-quarters of their money—equal to $1.4 million—went to the Republican candidate.
The group that contributed the most to Trump is retirees, with their donations accounting for half of his total donations. This is despite the fact that Trump is doing increasingly less well with the over-65s, according to a NYT/Siena College poll.
Despite the significant financial support from pensioners, Trump still lags behind considerably overall.
In late May, when his opponent was still Joe Biden, Trump was winning the donations race. He received almost 100,000 donations—equating to $14.5 million—in one day, despite being embroiled in his hush-money case.
However, when Ms Harris became the Democratic nominee, this trend quickly reversed. The day Mr Biden dropped out, she received 142,264 donations, equal to $24.7 million. Another $18.8 million came on the day Tim Walz was announced as her running mate, and days after her acceptance speech at the Democratic National Convention, she received $23.3 million.
To date, Ms Harris has raised $583.6 million to Trump’s $200.8 million.
Trump’s leadership of the Republicans has changed the nature of those who donate to the party.
The GOP still relies on donations from the deep red states, such as Texas, Florida, and most of the American heartland. But the type of person who is supporting the party is changing.
Exit polls show that the Republicans won over college graduates nationally between 1988 and 2004—and again in 2012. Voters earning at least $100,000 have historically also sided with Republican presidential candidates.
This meant that traditionally, Republicans could rely on larger checks from a smaller number of people.
In this election, the opposite is true.
Back in 2012, the average donation made to Republican candidate Mitt Romney was $379.
In 2016 and 2020, when Trump was on the ticket, the average donation was $157 and $94.
This year, the average donation for Ms Harris is $214 and for Trump is $49.
Looking at the donations in swing states shows just how much this has an effect.
In Pennsylvania, where the difference in total donations between Ms Harris and Trump is the largest of all swing states at $7.2 million, the disparity is clearly visible.
Both candidates received the bulk of their Pennsylvania donations from the big city ZIP codes, such as Philadelphia and Pittsburgh. But in terms of dollars, Ms Harris received a much greater amount of donations than Trump: $2.3 million compared to his $0.2 million.
The cities’ suburbs, which are full of people with degrees and high incomes, are overwhelmingly blue too, with almost every ZIP code having donated more to Ms Harris than to Trump.
Trump, however, performs better in the rural areas and small towns such as Newtown, New Kensington, and York. These are typically inhabited by less-educated people with lower incomes.
That pattern is visible nationwide, and it’s affecting how much Trump has to spend on his re-election campaign.
In the ZIP codes where the median household income was $100,000 or higher, Ms Harris’s donations dwarfed Trump’s, $228 million to $74 million—accounting for about half of all of her donations.
Education shows a similar pattern: ZIP codes where 60 per cent or more of residents have a college degree donated much more to Ms Harris than to Trump, $195 million compared to $38 million.