pundit
|
Followers
as a Pundit
|
Followers
as a Pres Candidate
|
Gain Since
Running
|
||
Presidential Candidate
|
1
|
Ted Cruz
|
1100000
|
1244398
|
144398
|
2
|
Mike Huckabee
|
1600000
|
1734080
|
134080
|
|
3
|
Rick Santorum
|
263000
|
259186
|
-3814
|
|
4
|
Ben Carson
|
1100000
|
1413206
|
313206
|
|
5
|
Rand Paul
|
1800000
|
1922875
|
122875
|
|
6
|
Lindsey Graham
|
94451
|
107881
|
13430
|
|
Last January I did a post looking at the Facebook pages of 17 liberal and 17 conservative pundits. Of those six conservative pundits are now running for President as Republicans. I looked at how the number of followers have changed since they have been running for President and are summarized in the table above. These 6 candidates gained an average 120,695.83 followers since January (Rick Santorum was the only one with a net loss of 3,814 followers over this period while Ben Carson had the largest gain). This gain is statistically significant according to the paired groups t-test (p=0.045).
As for the most popular age groups for each candidate, Ben Carson expanded from the 25-34 age group in January to the 25-34 and the 45-54 age groups. Rick Santorum (though he lost followers) expanded his most popular age group from 45-54 years to 45-64 years. The remainder had the 65+ age group as most popular in January and May.
I put together a list of candidates who have either hinted at running or have declared with the number of followers on their pages (as of this writing), the most popular city on their page, and the post popular age group. This information can be found on the mobile version of Facebook. As expected Hillary Clinton leads the Democratic field and the only other declared candidate , Bernie Sanders, has 43% fewer followers. Though she insists she is not running, Elizabeth Warren, with 1.4 million followers,would be leading this primary with the 55+ age group as most popular and Los Angeles, CA as the most popular city. Lincoln Chafee (former Sen/Gov of Rhode Island) has hinted at running but has not set up a page yet. It's not clear if Joe Biden is running.
Rand Paul is leading the Republican field with 1.9m followers followed closely by Mike Huckabee at 1.7 million. Huckabee used his page to defend Josh Duggar. By comparison Sarah Palin still has 4.2 million followers with Houston, TX as the most popular city and 45-54 age group as most popular. However she has had a 72,888 decrease since January but would still be leading this primary if she were running. Ted Cruz (who was elected to the Senate with Sarah Palin's help) is fourth among declared candidates. I will monitor the candidates pages and see how it may transfer into actual primary votes.
Candidate
|
Followers
as a Pres Candidate
|
Most
Popular City Since Becoming Candidate
|
Most
Popular Age Group as Candidate
|
||
Dem
|
1
|
Hillary Clinton
|
839,186
|
New York, NY
|
25-34
|
2
|
Bernie Sanders
|
477,839
|
New York, NY
|
55+
|
|
3
|
Martin O'Malley
|
65,714
|
Baltimore, MD
|
25-34
|
|
4
|
Lincoln Chafee
|
.
|
.
|
||
5
|
Joe Biden
|
823,846
|
New York, NY
|
25-34
|
|
6
|
Jim Webb
|
21,489
|
Washington, DC
|
19-24
|
|
GOP
|
1
|
Ted Cruz
|
1,244,398
|
Houston, TX
|
65+
|
2
|
Mike Huckabee
|
1,734,080
|
Perth, Australia
|
65+
|
|
3
|
Rick Santorum
|
259,186
|
Pittsburgh, PA
|
45-64
|
|
4
|
Ben Carson
|
1,413,206
|
Houston, TX
|
25-35 and 45-54
|
|
5
|
Rand Paul
|
1,922,875
|
Houston, TX
|
65+
|
|
6
|
Lindsey Graham
|
107,881
|
Columbia, SC
|
65+
|
|
7
|
Jeb Bush
|
176,284
|
Miami, FL
|
65+
|
|
8
|
Scott Walker
|
278,201
|
Milwaukee, WI
|
45-54 and 65+
|
|
9
|
Marco Rubio
|
861,005
|
Miami, FL
|
65+
|
|
10
|
Chris Christie
|
104,166
|
New York, NY
|
35-54
|
|
11
|
Rick Perry
|
1,174,115
|
Houston, TX
|
65+
|
|
12
|
Bobby Jindal
|
239,530
|
Baton Rouge, LA
|
35-54
|
|
13
|
Carly Fiorina
|
55,400
|
Los Angeles, CA
|
45-54
|
|
14
|
John Kasich
|
107,224
|
Columbus, OH
|
45-64
|
|
**Related Posts**
