CHICAGO — Chicagoans aren't donating to presidential campaigns like they used to.
Compared with 2008, the last presidential election year when a sitting president wasn't running for the job, Chicagoans have been much less likely to open their pocketbooks for the government's top job, according to data from the Federal Election Commission.
Through Aug. 31, Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton raised $4.6 million from 4,250 donors in the city during the course of her campaign. In 2008, Barack Obama — who had the benefit of being one of Chicago's favorite sons — had raised $11.2 million at the same point.
While Chicago has never been a Republican city, 2008 nominee John McCain did raise $1.7 million from 1,322 donors from the city through August 2008.
Those numbers are way higher than Donald Trump has raised in Chicago this year. Since announcing his campaign last summer, the Republican nominee has raised just $128,446 from 614 donors from the city.
Back in March, we explored how campaign contributions broke down between Clinton and her Democratic primary challenger Bernie Sanders.
Clinton's strongest fundraising neighborhoods remain Downtown and surrounding neighborhoods, with the Lincoln Park-centric 60614 ZIP Code leading the way for her with more than $738,000 in donations from 485 people. That area was also the strongest for Obama.
Trump has far fewer donors in McCain's strongest parts of the city, which were Downtown and wealthy lakefront neighborhoods on the North Side. Trump does have more donors on the Northwest and Southwest sides than McCain did, but they aren't donating nearly as much. McCain raised $1,301 per Chicago donor. Trump is getting just $209.
One area in which Clinton is outperforming Obama is money raised per Chicago donor. The former U.S. senator and state lawmaker raised $919 per Chicago donor through this point in 2008. Clinton has raised $1,097 per person.
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