‘Likes’ on Social Media: Ranking the Senate Candidates (May Edition)

by | May 9, 2013 | Carolina Strategic Analysis, Features, Social Media Rankings

 

It’s that time of month again, the time for the latest installment of the North Carolina Senate Race 2014 Social Media Smackdown. We tally the number of followers that each potential candidate has and compare them from last month to see if any candidate has momentum in this very early stage of the race.

Numbers are the combined Twitter followers and Facebook ‘friends’ that each candidate has. A couple of candidates have dropped out and some more have been added, so it might be tough to do some comparisons. Let’s go:

1. Sen. Kay Hagan 12,424 + 14,908 = 27,332 (April total: 25,522) +1,810
2. Rep. Renee Ellmers 5,709 + 8,244 = 13,953 (April total: 13,552) +401
3. Rep. Virginia Foxx 3,756 + 9,656 = 13,412 (April total: 13,140) +272
4. Sen. Phil Berger 1,976 + 3,135 = 5,111 (April total: 4,929) +182
5. Speaker Thom Tillis 1,162 + 3,290 = 4,452 (April total: 4,216) +236
6. Dr. Greg Brannon 1,395 + 313 = 1,708 (April total: 1,480) +228
7. Charlotte Mayor Pro Tem Lynn Wheeler = 84 + 741 = 825 (April total: -)
7. Terry Embler 150 + 118 = 268 (April total: 252) +16

Rev. Mark Harris was not found to have any Facebook or Twitter accounts.

Kay Hagan is once again the big winner. She also added more followers than any of her Republican challengers. On the Republican side, Renee Ellmers is in first place and also added more followers than her competitors in the Republican primary.

Overall, there weren’t very many changes from April, which should be expected given that we’re so early in the process. Social media follows will become much more important during the final stages of the Republican primary, when they can be used as a key indicator of momentum.

There hasn’t been any real Senate news lately, but a note on the national environment. Until now I’ve though that the parties were pretty evenly matched. But recent polling seems to suggest that Democrats will still be the victim of an enthusiasm gap going into the 2014 midterms. As Nate Cohn writes, “This is the cost, to Democrats, of relying on a younger, diverse coalition.” This means that Kay Hagan might have a tougher time being reelected than we’ve suggested in the past. Of course, Republicans will need a strong candidate to take advantage of the midterm environment. Do they have one?

0 Comments

Related Posts

GET UPDATES

Get the latest posts from PoliticsNC delivered right to your inbox!

You have Successfully Subscribed!