The National Rifle Association (NRA) spent $11.8 million supporting or opposing candidates this election, but it’s hard to say if it got its money’s worth.

Among the nearly 44 politicians receiving contributions from the NRA’s Political Victory Fund in the November election, 28 went on to win their races, according to data collected by the Sunlight Foundation, a campaign watchdog group. But another 16 candidates, or 36% of the total, lost.

The Sunlight Foundation determined that the Political Victory Fund, despite its victories, actually got less than a 1% return on its investment helping or hindering candidates for office because it lost most of the big races it invested in.

In the biggest race of the year, the NRA allocated $7.4 million opposing President Barack Obama, and another $1.9 million supporting Mitt Romney.

The NRA picked sides in 13 Senate races, winning only three, while losing ten. It spent more than half a million dollars on the U.S. Senate race in Indiana, where Republican Richard Mourdock was defeated by Joe Donnelly, and another half mil unsuccessfully trying to unseat Senator Sherrod Brown (D-Ohio).

-Noel Brinkerhoff

To Learn More:

Report: NRA Shoots Blanks This Election (by Mike Lillis, The Hill)

NRA Spends Money On Losing Candidates During 2012 Election (International Business Times)

National Rifle Association of America Political Victory Fund (Sunlight Foundation)