Andrew Yang's campaign indicates that over 450,000 people participated in the debate

Andrew Yang's surprising debate – donating $ 120,000 to 10 families for a year to put forward his basic universal income proposal – has helped the foreign candidate to raise a million dollars in the 72 hours since the debate and to collect more than 450,000 e-mail addresses of people online. draw, said the presidential campaign to POLITICO.

The campaign said that more than 90% of e-mail addresses are new, which represents a huge expansion of the list of e-mail addresses of the candidate. He also won more followers on Twitter during the debate than any other candidate.

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While some rivals on the debate scene laughed and rolled their eyes at the ploy, Yang's campaign views the "Freedom Dividend Pilot Program" as an example of why their first Internet campaign pushed them to the sixth place of the contest crowded.

"We have a 21st century candidate and we are running a 21st century campaign," said Zach Graumann, campaign manager. "It's something that few of our competitors can say."

The $ 1 million fundraiser after the debate accounts for more than a third of Yang's $ 2.8 million fundraising in the last quarter, suggesting that the 44-year-old entrepreneur is is gathering a lot more in the third quarter ending this month.

Yang explained the cash gift, which ends at 11:59 pm ET on Thursday night, in populist terms – that it was better to spend money from the election campaign to make it to the people rather than for commercials television and political consultants.

"What happens when you give money to a presidential campaign?" Asked Yang in his opening speech at Thursday night's debate. "The politician spends money on TV ads and consultants and you hope it works. It's time to trust us more than our politicians. "

The campaign's online draw has caused deep skepticism on the part of campaign finance experts, but they acknowledge that the Federal Election Commission will probably not stop it, as it currently does not have the quorum required.

"This feat is at best dubious in terms of legality," said Brendan Fischer, legal director of federal reform at the Campaign Legal Center. "By handing campaign funds to supporters, it is almost impossible to violate the prohibition of personal use. But Yang seems to be moving forward because he knows the paralyzed FEC can not tell him no.

"The tactics of the campaign raise many new legal issues," said Paul Ryan, vice president of policy and litigation at Common Cause. "If only we had a quorum at the FEC, the Commission could give advice on this innovative and innovative use of campaign funds!"

The Yang campaign said that they had "widely consulted our lawyers" before the announcement last Thursday. "These expenses are made to promote the campaign's goals by demonstrating the transformative power of Andrew's flagship proposal," the campaign said in a statement. "Since these payments would not be made regardless of the campaign, they comply with all campaign finance laws."

Yang also answered questions about legality on Sunday at CNN. "If I gave a million dollars to a media company or consultants or if I was hired as a small army of canvassers, no one would, but if we gave the money directly to the Americans, that would be a problem, "he said. "So it shows how messy our system is, giving money directly to the Americans is a challenge."