Hillary Clinton has raised $47.5 million during her first couple months as a candidate, and a solid majority of her donors were women,
reports Matea Gold.
Of the more than 250,000 contributors who donated to Clinton, 61 percent are women. That puts her on track to outstrip the presidential high-water mark set by President Obama in 2012, when 47 percent of donors who gave him more than $200 were women, according to the Center for Responsive Politics.
The surge of female-driven contributions for Clinton could fuel a partisan divide when it comes to gender and political money. In 2012, women gave 52 percent of their federal donations to Democratic candidates, a slight edge the party has held since 1998, according to the Center.
Women are poised to play a breakout role in this campaign cycle. U.S. women now control
51 percent of the personal wealth in this country—a figure that is only expected to grow in the years ahead. And 2016 will be an opportunity for women to flex that wealth muscle and these early numbers suggest they are eager to do it.
In that sense, the gender gap is bound to get far worse for Republicans because it's not just about votes anymore. Any candidate who can inspire women to more fully realize their potential in political giving will be priming a pump with unknowable depth.
So bring on the attacks on organizations like Planned Parenthood. We saw how well that went for the Susan B. Komen Foundation in 2012. Every attack on an organization that 71 percent of women support providing federal funding to, is sure to be more money in the pockets of Democratic candidates and especially Hillary Clinton, if these early fundraising numbers prove predictive.