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Trump trailing way behind Clinton in fundraising

Hillary Clinton’s fundraising for her White House bid surpasses that of Donald Trump by more 30 times.

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US presidential candidate Donald Trump (AFP photo)

US presumptive Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump’s campaign of fundraising has fallen far short of his Democratic rival Hillary Clinton’s, marking one of the biggest financial mismatches in the country’s history of presidential elections.

Filings released by the Federal Election Commission (FEC) on Tuesday showed that Clinton had $42.5 million in cash at the beginning of June, 32 times larger than Trump’s $1.3 million cash reserve.

Trump’s victory in the primary contests on May 4 did not do him any favor either and he earned only $3 million that month, compared to Clinton’s $26 million.

Interestingly, the real estate mogul used some 20 percent of the money to pay for services that were provided by his own companies.

For example, Trump spent over $423,000 on rent and catering at his Florida resort Mar-A-Lago, while paying another $350,000 to Tag Air, the holding company that his personal jet belongs to.

This is while the former reality TV star loaned his own campaign another $2.2 million, bringing his total spending over the past year to about $46 million.

Meanwhile, the Republican National Convention (RNC) began in June with nearly $20 million in cash reserves and $7 million in debt, its lowest over the past years.

In the 2012 presidential election, the RNC began in June with about $60 million cash on hand; while in May 2012 it raised more than $76 million together with then presumptive nominee Mitt Romney.

This goes against Trump’s claim that money is “pouring in” to the party.

The weak fundraising performance is likely to cause more panic among Republicans about Trump’s chances to win the November election as the New York businessman is also behind in terms of support among voters.

A Monmouth University poll released Monday showed that the former secretary of state maintained a 7-percent lead over Trump who scored 40 percent support nationally.

In another poll released Friday, Clinton was ahead with 45.5 percent support against Trump’s 34.8 percent, while 19.7 percent picked neither candidate.

The poll showed that Trump is facing a growing popularity issue as 7 in 10 Americans had unfavorable views of him, a 10-point rise since last month.