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Trump Outspends Biden on Campaign Merch

Still, when it came to total campaign spending, Biden outpaced Trump.

President Donald Trump’s campaign spent just under $11.4 million on branded merchandise to help fuel his push for reelection, while Democratic challenger Joe Biden invested about $2.01 million in promotional products in his bid for the White House.

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That’s according to data from publicly available campaign finance reports, which showed that Trump’s merch spend was nearly six times greater than the former vice president’s investment in promo.

Still, when it came to total campaign spend, Biden outpaced Trump. The former vice president spent $790,193,382 on his campaign, with promo investment accounting for about 0.25% of that total tally.

face mask

Face masks were among the products that Biden’s campaign was retailing to supporters.

Overall, Trump spent $509,522,429 on the campaign, meaning that spend on promotional products accounted for about 2.2% of his total outlay. During his run for the White House in 2016, Trump spent $343,056,732 on his campaign, which included investment after election day through the end of that year. For that run, Trump’s promo spend was nearly $19.29 million, or 5.6% of total campaign investment. 

In the 2020 campaign, hats garnered the biggest investment from Trump, perhaps not a surprise given the popularity of his “Make America Great Again” and “Keep America Great” caps among supporters. Biden’s filing wasn’t as detailed on particular products, but the report noted that the campaign bought personal protective equipment from Custom Ink and Top 40 promo distributor IMS (asi/215310), among others.

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The Trump campaign invested heavily in hats. These “Keep America Great” hats were a spin on the “Make America Great Again” caps popularized during the president’s 2016 run.

Trump’s finance reports indicate that he consistently turned to several vendors for promo solutions. His campaign’s primary partners were Lafayette, LA-based Ace Specialties (asi/103553) and California-based CaliFame. Other vendors included Florida-based Bagley Branded Products and Wisconsin-headquartered Metalcraft Mint (asi/70130).

Meanwhile, Biden’s campaign most frequently worked on merch with Rhode Island-based Fii Marketing, also known as Financial Innovations, and Austin, TX-headquartered Bumperactive (asi/150095).  

During their campaigns (and Trump’s time in office), both candidates used “moment merch” to tap into hot button issues and take swipes at their opponents. For instance: When a fly landed on Vice President Mike Pence’s head during a debate, the Biden campaign acted immediately, making a fly swatter available for sale that read “Truth Over Flies.”

Also, when media reports alleged that Trump had paid just $750 in taxes in some years and none in others, the Biden campaign debuted buttons that said, “I Paid More in Taxes Than Donald Trump.”

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These $6 buttons were available from the Biden campaign.

Trump, of course, gave as good he got, releasing shirts like pencil-neck Adam Schiff, football jerseys that criticized NFL players for kneeling during the National Anthem and plastic straws that mocked Democrats’ focus on plastic bans.

trump straw

The Trump campaign mocked Democrats’ focus on banning plastic bags and straws with this 10-pack of plastic straws.