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President Donald Trump’s re-election campaign and its affiliates raised $248 million last month, according to a spokesman, and that total stands well below Democratic challenger Joe Biden’s record September haul of $383 million.
The news on the presidential election’s money race comes as Trump delivers speeches on Friday in the crucial battleground state of Florida as well as in Georgia, rated as a toss up by The Cook Political Report, while Biden visits the swing state of Michigan.
Trump’s fundraising figure for September was announced late Thursday on Twitter by campaign spokesman Tim Murtaugh. The president also trailed Biden in fundraising in August, but Trump scored more donations in July. A campaign’s financial reports are a closely watched measure of viability, along with polling data.
| Data point | |
| Polling avg. in top swing states | Biden +4.5 as of Friday vs. Biden +4.6 a week ago |
| National polling avg. | Biden +8.9 as of Friday vs. Biden +9.7 a week ago |
| Betting markets | Biden 64.4%, Trump 36.0% as of Friday vs. Biden 64.5%, Trump 35.0% a week ago |
| S&P 500 | +0.7% Friday, +3.6% in 1 month |
| CBOE Volatility Index | -2.2% Friday, +1.3% in 1 month |
Sources: RealClearPolitics, FactSet
With 18 days until the election, Trump was giving a speech Friday afternoon in Fort Myers, Fla., on “protecting America’s seniors,” and he was slated to make remarks in the late afternoon at a campaign rally in Ocala, Fla., and speak at an evening rally in Macon, Ga., the White House said.
In his Fort Myers address, Trump announced a deal with CVS CVS, +0.45% and Walgreens WBA, -0.61% to deliver a COVID-19 vaccine to nursing homes once one is approved. However, two of the frontrunning candidates being developed by Moderna MRNA, -2.17% and Pfizer PFE, +3.85% and BioNTech BNTX, +4.10% are RNA vaccines that have temperature requirements that are thought to make it difficult to store them at pharmacies. Moncef Slaoui, head of Operation Warp Speed, previously told MarketWatch that immunizing with those types of vaccines, if approved, likely wouldn’t happen at drugstores.
Biden is scheduled to deliver an afternoon speech in Southfield, Mich., on “protecting and expanding access to affordable health care,” then attend a “virtual meeting with African-American faith leaders” and take part in an evening event in Detroit to “urge Michiganders to vote early in person,” his campaign said.
Late Thursday, Biden and Trump took part in dueling town halls that aired on ABC and NBC, respectively. The former vice president kept up his attacks on Trump’s handling of the coronavirus pandemic and addressed packing the Supreme Court, while the Republican incumbent called for a middle-class tax cut if he’s re-elected and was grilled on conspiracy theories.
U.S. stocks SPX, +0.01% DJIA, +0.39% on Friday were advancing and on track for weekly gains, while the CBOE Volatility Index VIX, -1.44% dropped. Analysts attributed the gains for equities in part to better-than-expected retail sales in September and an improvement in consumer sentiment.
MarketWatch’s Jaimy Lee contributed to this report.
