Facebook Posts Show What Voters Think About 2016 Presidential Candidates
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Scott Olsen / Getty Images(NEW YORK) — If you were looking for a respite from politics after hitting the polls on Tuesday, no such luck.
Facebook has been interpreting users’ posts from Tuesday as a way to read the presidential tea leaves for 2016.
Hillary Clinton, widely seen as the likely Democratic presidential candidate, received largely positive mentions, with 59 percent of the comments about her being favorable, while 39 percent were negative and 3 percent were neutral.
The former secretary of state dominated the Democratic conversation, with more than four times the mentions than her most likely Democratic opponent, Vice President Joe Biden.
The Republican field was more evenly split between three of the most likely candidates — New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie, former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush and Kentucky Sen. Rand Paul.
Of the trio, Paul had the highest favorability, with 60 percent of his mentions being positive as compared to only 37 percent negative.
Bush, the son of former President George H.W. Bush and brother of former President George W. Bush, had more negative comments — 50 percent — compared to his positive mentions — 46 percent.
Christie had the closest split, with 46 percent of his mentions falling into the negative category and 45 percent being considered favorable. The remainder for each (8 percent for Christie, 5 percent for Bush and 4 percent for Paul) were all deemed neutral.
This year’s midterms mark the first elections in which Facebook has actively analyzed political chatter in real time to see how users were reacting, let alone how they were relating Tuesday’s votes to their possible votes two years from now.
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