Gary Johnson's campaign raised nearly $3 million in two weeks. | AP Photo Libertarian presidential candidate Johnson raised $2.9 million in first half of August

Libertarian presidential candidate Gary Johnson said his campaign raised $2.9 million in online donations in the first two weeks of August, exceeding a $1.5 million goal.

The haul for Johnson and his running mate, former Massachusetts Gov. Bill Weld, came from a push for supporters to donate $15 by the 15th. More than 90,000 supporters donated as part of the "Money Bomb" drive, his campaign said. The average online donation was $32.


It's welcome news for Johnson at a time when he's making a push to get on the stage for the first general-election presidential debate. According to a POLITICO analysis of the most recent surveys of the polls that will be used to qualify for the debate, the Libertarian ticket is averaging 9.8 percent. Johnson, who needs 15 percent to qualify, has said that "the only chance to get elected is to be in the presidential debates."

The Commission on Presidential Debates on Monday announced the five polls it will average to determine whether Johnson makes it: those conducted by ABC-Washington Post, CBS-New York Times, CNN-Opinion Research Corporation, Fox News, and NBC-Wall Street Journal.

"These contributions, and the enthusiasm behind them, are providing the fuel we need to take our message of smaller government and greater freedom to the millions of voters who are looking for a way to break the two-party status quo," Johnson said in a statement.

Steve Shepard contributed to this report.