This can't be good news for team Biden. While the president's poll numbers have remained in the mud he could at least celebrate that his campaign fundraising was going well, beating out the Trump team each month. But things took a turn in April.

President Joe Biden's 2024 campaign's fundraising in April lagged rival Donald Trump's for the first time, after the former president ramped up his joint operation with the Republican National Committee and headlined high-dollar fundraisers.

The Biden campaign and the Democratic National Committee raised more than $51 million in April, the campaign said, lower than the $90 million they raised in March and less than $76 million Donald Trump and the Republican Party reported taking in for the month.

The Trump team announced its haul more than two weeks ago.

Former U.S. President Donald Trump's election campaign and the Republican National Committee said on Saturday that they raised more than $76 million in April, over half of it from small donors.

The monthly fundraising haul exceeded the $65.6 million raised in March by Trump, the Republican presidential candidate, and the RNC.

So Trump's fundraising went up by about $11 million last month while Biden's dropped by almost $40 million. That's a big shift. Partly, Biden's downturn in April was the result of his big numbers in March. Biden's March haul ($90 million) was based on an 8-state campaign swing and a single event at Radio City Music Hall that raised more than $25 million. 

Biden's next big fundraiser will take place in June when he heads to California for a fundraiser with George Clooney and Julia Roberts. Still, getting beat by team Trump has to be concerning to Biden's campaign. They are clearly leaning on his fundraising edge to help make up for his poor polling and his campaign's "less is more" approach to interviews.

Biden's campaign continues to have a considerably larger war chest. It reported to the Federal Election Commission that it had some $84 million in the bank at the end of April. The Trump campaign reported having $49 million.

A large war chest has allowed Biden's campaign to undertake major advertising campaigns in key battleground states, said Julie Chavez Rodriguez, Biden-Harris 2024 Campaign Manager.

They're not in danger of running out of cash anytime soon, but if this reversal continues in May it might suggest a lack of enthusiasm from Biden donors which could become its own story.

Ultimately, Trump probably doesn't have to raise as much money as Biden anyway. Hillary outraised Trump in 2016 by a lot.

Trump beat Democratic candidate Hillary Clinton in 2016 after she raised $769.9 million, far more than the $433.4 million he raised.

So if we're grading this on a curve, Biden probably needs to maintain a large fundraising lead to have a chance of keeping this competitive. Every month he fails to convincingly win the fundraising battle is bad news for his campaign.

Update: What the Biden camp is saying publicly vs. what they are saying privately.

Mr. Biden’s campaign manager, Julie Chavez Rodriguez, said in a statement on Monday that the new figures represented “strong, consistent grass-roots enthusiasm.” She added, “Trump’s operation continues to burn through cash and lag behind our growing and aggressive campaign, with no ground game and no demonstrable interest in talking to the voters they need to win.”

Later in the evening, supporters of the president received a very different message in an email pitch for cash: “We’re worried,” it read. “We’re not even close to the amount we raised last month at this point,” the email said.

Which statement is closer to the reality within his campaign?