Laying the Foundation for a Successful Presidential Campaign: Public Attention and Fundraising in the Preprimary Period

Objective This study advances the presidential primary fundraising literature in two ways. First, we explore candidate fundraising during the preprimary period through the lens of public attention, arguing that candidates must find ways to activate interest in their campaigns in order to raise money. Second, we use Google Trends data to measure how much the public is paying attention to each presidential primary candidate and how this concept affects fundraising. Methods We use pooled cross‐sectional time‐series models to determine the impact of public attention on a candidate's weekly fundraising totals. Results We find that a candidate's share of public attention is one of the main drivers of preprimary period fundraising, even for non‐front‐running candidates. Conclusion This finding illustrates the role the public plays in shaping the preprimary period and identifies a determinant of fundraising that is readily available and frequently updated, allowing both scholars and campaigns to better monitor the preprimary phase of the presidential nomination process.