As per figures released today Bernie started May with $5.8 million cash on hand, significantly down from the prior month, when he started with about $17 million cash on hand.
Fundrasing dropped off significantly in April for Sanders, going from $46 million in March to $27 million in April. He still raised more than Hillary in April, $26.9 to $26.4 million.
He spent $38.6 million in April as compared to Hillary’s $23.8 million.
As a result, Hillary started May with about a 6-to-1 cash on hand advantage, $30.2 million to $5.8 million This puts Sanders in a tough spot, as he's fallen further behind at a time when his donations and cash on hand are also dropping off.
Per this WSJ article, Bernie is in a challenging situation:
A shrinking war chest only adds to Mr. Sanders’s challenges as he faces the final stretch of the primary battle. He is hundreds of delegates—both pledged and unpledged—behind Mrs. Clinton, and faces increasing pressure from the front-runner and the Democratic Party as a whole to drop out of the race, or else risk harming Mrs. Clinton’s chances against presumptive GOP nominee Donald Trump in the general election.
blogs.wsj.com/...
Surely he know all of this, and as some of the stories from the last 24 hours suggested, he may be looking to bow out gracefully while still maintaining the strength of his movement. Certainly he has garnered a lot of enthusiasm and a LOT of $$ thus far. However, he faces insurmountable odds in terms of delegates, the upcoming map is not favorable to him, and he's running short on cash. Challenging times indeed.
I look for Hillary to continue her focus on the general election, as she is in a strong financial position in addition to her strong delegate and polling positions (two polls today had her +5 and +6 vs Trump).
The primary season is just about over. Hillary has won a tougher-than-expected race, and looks to be in good shape going forward.