Story highlights Sanders said Tuesday his campaign has received 2.3 million individual contributions

"Obama did very, very well in both 2008 and 2012, but at this particular point, we are doing better," Sanders said

Storm Lake, Iowa (CNN) Bernie Sanders on Tuesday boasted that his campaign, which has proudly eschewed contributions from what the Vermont senator derides as the "billionaire class," has received more individual donations up to this point than any other campaign in history, including President Barack Obama's winning efforts in 2008 and 2012.

"We have received in this campaign 2.3 million individual contributions. Two point three million," he said to applause at a town hall event here at Buena Vista College. "And that comes from a hair less than a million people. Almost a million people making contributions. Now, why is this important? Well number one, it's important because that's more contributions that have come into a campaign than any campaign in American history up into this point. So Obama did very, very well in both 2008 and 2012, but at this particular point, we are doing better."

The average contribution, he said, is less than $30. The maximum contribution to a primary campaign allowed under federal law is $2,700, while contributions less than $200 don't have to be reported with individual's names.

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Sanders was citing a statistic circulated by his campaign over the weekend that said Obama's re-election campaign in 2012 reported 2,209,636 individual contributions through December 31, 2011. CNN is unable to independently confirm the number until January, when the next round of Federal Election Commission reports are filed.

Overall, Sanders had raised nearly $40 million through September 30, the most recent period for which FEC filings are available, compared to Democratic front-runner Hillary Clinton's $77 million through that period.

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