Democratic presidential candidate Bernie Sanders had a really good summer. You've probably read about his soaring poll numbers and standing-room-only speeches, but might not have known that he's also raised a ton of money. In the three months from July through September, Sanders reportedly raked in a cool $26 mill.
The number is remarkable for a couple reasons. First off, the campaign had to revise an earlier estimate because they raised an unexpected $2 million in just the last 24 hours. (That's a bit more than $80K an hour, if you were wondering.) But also, it's just a tad below frontrunner Hillary Clinton, who's raised $28 million.
Clinton is still way ahead overall: Her campaign set its fundraising goal for 2015 at $100 million and appears to be on track; to date it's brought in about $70 million. Sanders' total is a bit more than half that, $41 million — $15 million in the last quarter and $26 million in this one.
But, there is a big difference between the way that Clinton and Sanders are raising money. Clinton does it mostly in person, at events where attendees are likely to give $2,700, the maximum amount individuals are allowed to donate to a political campaign. Clinton headlined 58 fundraisers this summer, CNN reports, while Sanders only did seven.
Meanwhile Sanders collects most of his funds online. The majority of his donations ring in at about $25, which means most of his supporters are nowhere near the limit placed on them by the government. His camp says it's gotten that money from 1.3 million donations given by 650,000 people.
That makes the Senator's haul all the more impressive — since it indicates a broad grassroots base for his campaign. If a million people are giving him money, it's a safe bet that more than that would vote for him.
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