Small-dollar donors and the 2016 presidential election

Introduction

Small-dollar donors are classified as those who give less then $200.

Democratic presidential candidate and independent U.S. Senator Bernie Sanders raised $26 million during the third quarter of this – 77 percent of those donations came from small-dollar donors.

Republican Ben Carson, who raised more campaign cash during the third-quarter than any other GOP White House contender at $20.8 million, can thank small-dollar donors for nearly 60 percent of his donations. Meanwhile, Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump raised $3.9 million, with small-dollar donors accounting for about 70 percent of his total.

Levinthal is part of the veteran, award-winning reporting team at the Center for Public Integrity covering the influence of money in both federal and state elections.