Here at News In New Media we have been closely following the current presidential election.
Check this blog if you’re more interested in Hillary Clinton’s ratings via social media, but here’s a rundown of what people have been saying since last Monday regarding Donald Trump.
Clearly, from a social media standpoint, people are mostly concerned with Trump’s views on the economy and defense. Let’s drill down a bit more.
If we take those 300,000 posts dealing with the economy and check the sentiment of each, we find that they are overwhelmingly negative. Here, see for yourself:
Twitter is mostly upset that Donald Trump says he doesn’t pay taxes, but they also are ticked at his policies over all.
https://twitter.com/NancyDStreet/status/782209886293782528
A few of the negative posts were actually in support of Trump, just negatively valenced toward Hillary Clinton.
Similar to the economy is defense. National security, military spending, foreign affairs and the war on terrorism all combine into this category.
Again, the majority is negative, but there are some positive posts, too. Let’s take a closer look.
The detractors seem to have the usual opinions about his policies. One very popular Tweet was re-Tweeted dozens of times and read as follows:
GOP Candidate Donald Trump who claims he will destroy Isis, China, Mexico and Iran, has been whining about a microphone for three days now.
— John (@linnyitssn) October 1, 2016
If we now turn to the positive posts, we see a lot of retweets of a statement Trump made about “having the greatest people in the world in our military.” Supportive Tweets tended to be from news sources quoting this statement and military supporters who approve his military policies.
.@realDonaldTrump: "We have the greatest people in the world in our military." pic.twitter.com/IRM4IgiD8X
— Fox News (@FoxNews) September 30, 2016
These two issues are the most talked-about following the debate, but there was a little chatter surrounding immigration, healthcare, and social issues such as race, gender, and class.
About half the posts on immigration were negative, and these were filled with quite a bit of outrage. A few even used all caps and colorful language to express their deeply rooted anger at Trump’s statements surrounding the topic.
The positive posts on immigration were mostly sarcastic (and therefore, still negative), but there were a few staunch supporters of Trump’s plan to build a wall on the US’s southern border. The vast majority of the positive posts, however, were taken up by a retweet from The Independent:
This Mexican magazine gave Donald Trump's face the perfect makeover https://t.co/mdcovZlFS3
— The Independent (@Independent) September 30, 2016
The posts about social issues and healthcare, too, were 75-80% negative, as most posters on social media do not approve Trump’s behavior during Monday night’s debate.
If social media is an indicator of voting patterns, it is clear that voters on social media overwhelmingly mock and scorn Trump. However, social media is the main outlet for millennial voters, who tend to favor, overall, anything not-Trump. There is still a significant age bracket, however, who does not use social media and may be more likely to favor Trump over Hillary Clinton.
As this election season continues to unfold, social media will remain an important Litmus test for voter’s opinions on each candidate.
