In the days following President Obama's announcement that he supports same-sex marriage, anecdotal evidence suggested that the political position had a financial payoff. But without public financial disclosures, news sources relied on anonymous quotes saying that Obama's re-election campaign took in $2 million in the 24 hours following the announcement, or $1 million in the first 90 minutes.
Now the campaigns have filed their May financial disclosure reports with the Federal Election Commission, so it's possible to compile more precise figures.
An NPR analysis of the data shows that Obama's campaign committees experienced a nearly three-fold increase in donations over the 72 hours following the May 9 announcement, compared to the same period before the announcement.
In the three days leading up to the announcement, he took in $3.4 million. Afterward, he saw a three-day spike to $8.8 million in donations. Then his fundraising dropped back down to $2.7 million over three days. These numbers include contributions from people who gave at least $200.
"People who may have sat on the sidelines are now coming out in full force as a result of the president's and the administration's support for marriage equality," gay philanthropist and political activist David Bohnett said in an interview with NPR's Ari Shapiro. "There's no question about that."
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