Obama rode wave of 3.7 million donors to victory

Preliminary results of a study on presidential campaign donations shows that President Obama had more than 3.7 million donors compared with 827,000 who donated to Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.)

And while Obama had a substantial lead over McCain in small donors -- $200 or less -- Obama also led in the number of individuals who gave at or near the legal limit of $4,600, researchers at Brigham Young University said. Donors gave Obama $700 million to Obama and $316 million to McCain.

Donations from individuals giving $200 or less represented nearly a quarter ($178 million) of Obama's fund-raising total but only 7 percent ($35 million) of McCain's.

Obama raised nearly $135 million from individuals giving at or near the legal limit, compared with just less than $110 million for McCain.