More than 450,000 people have signed up for a chance to receive $1,000 per month from U.S. presidential candidate Andrew Yang.

During last week's debate, the Democrat announced that he will pick 10 families to receive the money for a year from his campaign funds.

Since he made the announcement last Thursday, Yang's campaign has raised more than $1 million and collected more than 450,000 email addresses from people who entered the online raffle.

Yang's surprise announcement was aimed at drawing attention to the main platform of his campaign -- to provide a universal basic income of $1,000 a month to every American adult.

The candidate says the stipend, which he calls Freedom Dividend, would allow Americans to use the money for basic needs while they try to better their lives.

Yang is a newcomer to the American political arena. He is a Silicon Valley entrepreneur, who has never run for elected office before.

The 44-year-old is the first Asian-American candidate to have gained significant national attention.