In interviews with dozens of low-dollar contributors in the past two weeks, some said they were unhappy with what they viewed as Obama’s overly conciliatory approach to congressional Republicans.
Others cited what they saw as a lack of passion in the president, or said the sour economy had drained their enthusiasm and pocketbooks.
For still others, high hopes that Obama would deliver a new kind of politics in his first term have been dashed by the emergence of something that, to them, more resembles politics as usual.
“When I was pro-Obama in 2008, I was thinking of him as a leader who could face the challenges that we were tackling,’’ said Adnan Alasadi, who works in behavioral health in Mesa, Ariz. Alasadi contributed repeatedly to Obama during his first campaign but says he will not give the president - or anyone else - any more money.
“Now I am seeing him as just an opportunistic politician,’’ Alasadi said.
Such defections are not merely symbolic. About a quarter of Obama’s record haul during the 2008 cycle came from donors giving $200 or less, supporters who could be tapped again and again without hitting federal contribution limits. Many of those same people were also volunteers in his campaign, knocking on doors, calling friends and neighbors, and helping turn out voters that fall.
Compared with his Republican rivals, Obama remains in an enviable position. No Republican candidate for president has built a grass-roots fund-raising machine as formidable or sophisticated as his.
Through June 30, the close of the most recent campaign reporting period, more than 552,000 people had contributed to Obama’s reelection effort, according to campaign officials. Half of them were new donors, and nearly all of them gave contributions of less than $250.
But those figures obscured another statistic: A vast majority of Obama’s past donors, who number close to 4 million, have not yet given him any money.
