The fallout from President Joe Biden's abysmal debate performance June 27 includes a "disastrous" effect on fundraising, according to multiple reports.
Democrats have been in turmoil over Biden's candidacy since he seemed lost at times and occasionally was hard to understand during a debate against former President Donald Trump.
Since then, Biden's campaign has suffered a major slowdown in donations, NBC News reported Wednesday.
"It's already disastrous," a source close to Biden's reelection efforts said of fundraising.
"The money has absolutely shut off," another source told the outlet.
July's fundraising could be down half "or much more," sources told NBC News.
"Donors are negative. They had a call with the president. The call seemed so contrived to people; I don't think they buy it," one source said of donors. "They called on people who were the most loyal, die-hard. ... There were no tough questions for the president."
Politico reported Wednesday that Biden's money "has started to dry up following his disastrous debate." Donors big and small are hesitant to contribute.
"This is a massive, massive problem," a source told Politico. "Right now, we should be scaling up, doubling and tripling our goals as we head into the fall. But we're cratering."
The Biden campaign denied the report that fundraising had dropped significantly.
"That's not accurate," spokesperson Lauren Hitt said, NBC News reported. "On grassroots fundraising, the first seven days of July were the best start to the month on the campaign — and many of those were first-time donors. On the high-dollar side, we've had folks max out since the debate, as well."
Movie star and lifelong Democrat George Clooney added his voice to calls for Biden to leave the presidential race on Wednesday, just weeks after headlining a fundraiser that brought in a record single-night haul for the president's reelection campaign.
The New York Times reported last week that a group of Democrat strategists and donors were attempting to bring money into a new PAC in order to help an alternative presidential candidate should Biden drop out of the race.
One donor told NBC News that was worried Biden's campaign is out of touch with reality and may be repeating mistakes made by former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton's campaign in 2016, when Trump won the election.
The Associated Press contributed to this story.
Charlie McCarthy ✉
Charlie McCarthy, a writer/editor at Newsmax, has nearly 40 years of experience covering news, sports, and politics.
© 2024 Newsmax. All rights reserved.