The NRA’s woes, say gun analysts, are expected to sharply reduce spending this year compared with the $30m the group spent on ads to help Trump win in 2016. They are also likely to mean cuts to its once formidable get out the vote operations in key states that historically provide big boosts to GOP candidates. Overall in 2016, the NRA spent close to $70m on ads and voter mobilization drives, say NRA sources.
In 2018, the NRA’s financial problems caused it to spend a relatively lackluster $9.4m on the midterm elections, and gun control groups outspent the NRA for the first time, which analysts say helped the Democrats win the House majority.
“The NRA is entering the summer and fall campaign with a series of crippling financial, legal, and political problems,” said Robert Spitzer, a political science professor at Cortland State University in New York.
Spitzer added: “As its anemic political spending in the 2018 midterm election showed, they will not be able to match anything like the roughly $70m they spent in 2016, as they continue to be plagued by a major revenue shortfall, a fact exacerbated by the impact of the coronavirus shutdown.”