President Obama beat Mitt Romney in donations from active and former military donors this past election cycle. The new information comes from the Center for Responsive Politics, a non-profit, money in politics watchdog that tracked donations from military members throughout the presidential campaign. Throughout the presidential campaign, Republicans claimed that the President was anti-military. Some, like Rick Santorum, even said that President Obama was “intentionally trying to degrade our military.” Despite the Republican rhetoric, the President raised nearly $950,000 in donations from former and active military members. That’s compared to $753,000 for Mitt Romney. Here’s the OpenSecrets chart on the donations throughout the campaign:
This is hardly a new trend: President Obama received more donations from military members who donated $200 or more than Sen. John McCain (R-AZ) in 2008. The President consistently garnered more donations than Romney from those in the military: last September, President Obama had bested Mitt Romney by more than $50,000 and earlier this year he had raised $100,000 more than the former Massachusetts governor. What’s more, Romney even lost the military donations battle to Rep. Ron Paul (R-TX) in the GOP presidential nomination fight.