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Obama Saw Immediate Fundraising Spike After Same-Sex Marriage Announcement

In the days following President Obama's announcement that he supports same-sex marriage, anecdotal evidence suggested that the political position had a financial payoff. But without public financial disclosures, news sources relied on anonymous quotes saying that Obama's re-election campaign took in $2 million in the 24 hours following the announcement, or $1 million in the first 90 minutes.

Now the campaigns have filed their May financial disclosure reports with the Federal Election Commission, so it's possible to compile more precise figures.

An NPR analysis of the data shows that Obama's campaign committees experienced a nearly three-fold increase in donations over the 72 hours following the May 9 announcement, compared to the same period before the announcement.

In the three days leading up to the announcement, he took in $3.4 million. Afterward, he saw a three-day spike to $8.8 million in donations. Then his fundraising dropped back down to $2.7 million over three days. These numbers include contributions from people who gave at least $200.

"People who may have sat on the sidelines are now coming out in full force as a result of the president's and the administration's support for marriage equality," gay philanthropist and political activist David Bohnett said in an interview with NPR's Ari Shapiro. "There's no question about that."

Copyright 2021 NPR. To see more, visit https://www.npr.org.

Ari Shapiro has been one of the hosts of All Things Considered, NPR's award-winning afternoon newsmagazine, since 2015. During his first two years on the program, listenership to All Things Considered grew at an unprecedented rate, with more people tuning in during a typical quarter-hour than any other program on the radio.
Shirish Dáte is an editor on NPR's Washington Desk and the author of Jeb: America's Next Bush, based on his coverage of the Florida governor as Tallahassee bureau chief for the Palm Beach Post.
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