US election: Hillary Clinton far outstrips Donald Trump in campaign fundraising

Hillary Clinton's campaign easily raised more cash than her rival US presidential candidate Donald Trump managed to bring in via donations in May, according to fresh figures. Donors contributed $3.1m (‎£2.1m) to Trump's campaign last month – the biggest monthly total the billionaire candidate has raised from donations – but this fell well short of the $26m raised by Clinton's campaign.

The real estate mogul began June with a war chest of $1.3m in cash compared to Clinton's cash reserves of $42m, campaign reports filed to the Federal Election Commission showed, according to Reuters.

It came as a separate report by Kantar Media and CMAG showed that Trump was being far outspent in television advertising by Clinton.

Trump has largely self-funded his presidential campaign – via $46m of loans from his personal bank accounts – since he announced his candidacy last year.

In a surprising move, the New York billionaire fired his campaign manager Corey Lewandowski amid dropping poll numbers on 20 June.

Faltering campaign

The financial disparity between the campaigns of the Democratic and Republican front-runners could prove crucial in the run-up to the November general election.

Clinton, whose campaign has also been boosted by Super Pacs, has an extensive network of field staff across the US organising voters, while Trump employs less than 100 paid staffers.

On 20 June, Trump said Lewandowski did "a great job" but that it was now time for a "different kind of campaign".

His campaign has faced a string of setbacks in recent days, with his renewed call to ban Muslims in the wake of the mass shooting in Orlando drawing criticism from senior figures in the Republican Party.

House speaker Paul Ryan – the top-ranking Republican politician in Congress – said at the weekend that he would not obstruct a potential revolt from delegates against Trump at the Republican national convention in Cleveland in July.

A poll released by Monmouth University on 20 June showed Clinton holding a 49%-41% lead over her Republican rival among likely voters.