The president as fundraiser-in-chief
President Barack Obama is making a series of economic speeches around the country, and the latest comes Thursday in Santa Monica, California.
All this speaking means the president hasn’t been doing a lot of campaigning for Democrats in close red state races.
“When you look at the approval ratings for President Obama in most of these states, he’s in the low 30s,” says Larry Sabato, director of the University of Virginia Center for Politics.
Sabato says the president is helping Democrats more by staying out of sight and raising big money.
Who still loves him? The party’s base.
“There are a lot of very affluent Democrats and liberals who are willing to pay money to see the president,” says John Jack Pitney, a political scientist at Claremont McKenna College.
The White House doesn’t have numbers for how much President Obama has raised for Democrats. When asked, The Democratic National Committee wouldn’t provide one, either.
The Center for Responsive Politics does keeps track of fundraising reports, though. It says the Democratic Party has raised almost $600 million so far this year.
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