At under 5 dollars each, Trump’s votes came cheap

Relying heavily on an unorthodox mix of social media, unfiltered rhetoric, and a knack for winning free TV time, the New York real estate magnate likely paid less than 5 dolars per vote during his insurgent White House bid, about half what Clinton paid, according to a Reuters analysis of campaign finance records and voting data. Those figures assume the candidates spent all the funds they raised. 

Trump’s cost-effective win has upended prevailing concepts about the influence of money in American politics and raised the question of whether a lean, media-savvy campaign can become the new model for winning office in the United States. Political strategists and academics tend to agree, however, that Trump’s performance would be tough to repeat. A household name for his luxury brand resorts, reality TV stardom, and ability to surround himself with non-stop controversy, Trump held advantages that many political candidates lack. 

“I think this is a case where Trump had unique characteristics as a candidate that allowed him to pursue a different type of strategy,” said Tony Corrado, a professor of government at Colby College in Maine. In total, Trump raised at least $270 million since launching his campaign in June 2015, a little more than a third of the money that Obama’s re-election campaign spent in 2012, according to the most recent filings with the Federal Elections Commission. With vote counting wrapping up in the early hours on Wednesday, Trump had won some 57 million votes nationwide in the general election. That amounts to less than $5 per vote for the $270 million he spent. According to data analytics firm media Quant, Trump garnered about 5 billion dollar worth of free media coverage during the election campaign, more than twice the amount earned by Clinton.