Senator Bernie Sanders has a Super PAC called Collective Actions PAC. As of October 15, it has raised just $8,797 and spent $433. Lucky for Sanders that he gets thousands of donations, which totaled $26 million in the third quarter.

The Sanders Super PAC numbers come from Open Secrets, which tells a great deal about where candidates get their money. Among the largest Super PACs, several have raised over $10 million. The Right To Rise USA has raised $103 million for Jeb Bush. America Leads has raised $11 million for Chris Christie (clearly poll numbers do not have a direct connection to Super PAC support). Unintimidated PAC has raised $20 million for Scott Walker. Keep the Promise I has raised $11 million for Ted Cruz. Priorities USA Action has raised $16 million for Hillary Clinton.

According to Open Secrets:

As of October 16, 2015, 1,186 groups organized as super PACs have reported total receipts of $300,828,942 and total independent expenditures of $28,916,515 in the 2016 cycle.

Methodology:

Super PACs are a new kind of political action committee created in July 2010 following the outcome of a federal court case known as SpeechNow.org v. Federal Election Commission.

Technically known as independent expenditure-only committees, Super PACs may raise unlimited sums of money from corporations, unions, associations and individuals, then spend unlimited sums to overtly advocate for or against political candidates. Super PACs must, however, report their donors to the Federal Election Commission on a monthly or quarterly basis — the Super PAC’s choice — as a traditional PAC would. Unlike traditional PACs, Super PACs are prohibited from donating money directly to political candidates.

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