With the midterm elections around the corner in the United States, our team will look at social media sentiment and statistics regarding candidates and their political climates. This blog is focused on the gubernatorial candidates for the state of South Carolina.
Joe Cunningham – Democratic
Tally Parham Casey, running mate for lieutenant governor
@JoeCunninghamSC is the Twitter handle of Democratic candidate Joe Cunningham. He has 71,000 followers and over 4,000 tweets. Using Sprinklr Analytics, his handle was searched, and statistics were collected. With this search, an 80 million reach was recorded with over 7,000 mentions. Within these mentions, over 70% are of negative sentiment, and 28% are positive. With South Carolina being a primarily conservative state, the negative sentiment towards a Republican candidate could be a regular occurrence, especially after the political changes that have occurred this year regarding women’s and minority’s rights. Lastly, as expected, the top themes regarding this search are related to voting and the candidate’s name recognition.
https://twitter.com/thegamecock/status/1584239711291260928?s=20&t=AkBsTYnG4-UnEBbb8GwVtQ
Henry McMaster – Republican – Incumbent
Pamela Evette, running mate for lieutenant governor
@henrymcmaster is the Twitter handle of Republic candidate Henry McMaster, who is the current governor of the state. He has 81,600 followers and over 5,000 tweets. Using Sprinklr Analytics, his handle was searched, and statistics were collected. With this search, 68 million reach was recorded with over 9,000 mentions. Within these mentions, over 77% are of negative sentiment, and 22% are positive. Lastly, the top themes regarding this search are the names of other candidates. We can see the banter between Twitter users regarding political policies, and often, social media content compares the current candidate with competitors in order to foster debate on platforms.
Fran’s story is powerful. Only women can make these decisions. Politicians like Henry McMaster should never tell anyone, especially not a 12-year-old, that they must carry a pregnancy to term. This is just one of many reasons I support @JoeCunninghamSC for Governor. https://t.co/XvMu9GjMHj
— Vicki Ringer (@vickiringer) October 20, 2022
Bruce Reeves – Libertarian
Jessica Ethridge, running mate for lieutenant governor
@Reeves4SC is the Twitter handle of the campaign for Libertarian candidate Bruce Reeves. The account has 35 followers and over 20 tweets. Using Sprinklr Analytics, the handle was searched, and statistics were collected. With this search, a 7 thousand-point reach was recorded with over 30 mentions. Within these mentions, over 90% are of positive sentiment. With a much smaller Twitter presence than his competitors, it is difficult to compare the statistics across the full board. However, after briefing the campaign’s website, they have much more information uploaded there, signaling that Twitter is not their primary means of communication. The top themes regarding this search are related to voting and the businesses and individuals that Bruce Reeves and his running mate are targeting with their campaign.
"We don’t want the government to infringe on everybody’s personal rights. We just don’t believe in the government being so big, in general." https://t.co/VkKFP3RWsK
— Reeves4SC (@Reeves4SC) October 6, 2022
As the elections inch closer, our team will be analyzing Sprinklr for trends and insights into the midterm elections across both South Carolina and the United States.
Author: Louisa Glazunova
