Nearly half a million people who donated to Andrew Yang's campaign to be entered into drawing to win $120,000

The campaign of Democratic presidential hopeful Andrew Yang pulled in more than $1 million in three days after Yang offered the chance to win $120,000 to 10 people who donated to his campaign.

What's the background?

Yang's most famous policy proposal is a $1,000 per month universal income for every adult American citizen.

During the Democratic debate on Thursday in Houston, Yang said that his campaign would donate 12 monthly payments of $1,000 to 10 donors in order to demonstrate the results of his basic income plan. He called this the "Freedom Dividend Pilot Program." The money for these payouts would come from his own campaign treasury.

At the debate, he told people to visit his website if they "believe you can solve your own problems better than any politician."

What happened now?

"I can't wait to meet the new winners of the Freedom Dividend," Yang tweeted Monday. "They will illustrate what we all already know — getting $1,000 a month will make people happier, healthier and more able to focus on the important things in life.

His campaign reported that the response to his offer was overwhelming.

Yang's campaign manager, Zach Graumann, tweeted Monday that "despite speaking the least amount of time last debate" Yang had raised $1 million, received 450,000 email entries, and three times the web traffic of all other candidates combined, because he was "playing a different game. And it's working."

According to Politico, this $1 million raised in less than a week makes up more than a third of all money raised by Yang during the entirety of last quarter ($2.8 million).

The deadline to apply for the cash giveaway ends Thursday night at midnight, the Daily Mail reported.

In addition to the extra donations and increased web traffic, the Daily Mail reported that Yang had gained 7,566 new followers on Twitter since the start of the debate. That's significantly ahead of the runner-up for most Twitter followers during the same time period, Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.), who gained 4,367 followers.