Sources of Candidate Fundraising Affect Perceptions of Electability

Abstract

The amount of money flowing in political campaigns in the U.S. has increased dramatically in recent years. Campaign fundraising can provide several signals to voters—especially in primary elections where voters may be considering the electability of candidates in the general election. We conduct a survey experiment to distinguish whether funds influence electability perceptions because they are a war chest of resources that a candidate can use in the general election or because funds signal the candidate’s ability to draw in public support. The results of our survey experiment show that self-funding is less effective than money from donors at increasing primary voters’ perceptions of candidate electability. Our results provide insights into how news coverage on the sources of fundraising might mitigate advantages that self-funded candidates might otherwise have.