When it comes to success in 21st century politics, social media has become absolutely crucial. Both Barack Obama and Donald Trump have something in common in that their social media strategies played a pivotal role in their election victories. With the midterms just around the corner, Facebook, Twitter and Instagram will once again play an equally decisive part in shaping the American political landscape for the foreseeable future. The New York Times conducted an analysis of Facebook and Instagram interactions over the past 30 days to find out which party is winning the social media battle so far.
The research involved more than 53,000 posts from over 1,100 accounts on Facebook and Instagram in the 30 days ending October 15. Democrats were firmly in the lead when it comes to the number of engagements (likes, comments and shares) on both social media networks during that timeframe. Even though Republicans were more successful on Facebook than on Instagram, GOP Senate candidates still trailed their opponents with 2.2 million interactions compared to the Democrats' 10 million. Democrats also led the way in Facebook interactions among House candidates with 3.5 million compared to 1.5 million for Republicans. Things were far tighter among Facebook interactions in the country's races for governor with the GOP just about edging ahead.
On Instagram, Democrats also had the most interactions among candidates for the Senate and for governor positions by far. Despite their social media domination, things might not be as rosy as they seem for the left ahead of the midterms. Much of the interaction across Facebook and Instagram occurred on the pages of several high-profile candidates boasting large numbers of followers. For example, Bernie Sanders had 6 million Facebook interactions over that 30-day period while Beto O'Rourke and Elizabeth Warren had 1.6 million and 940,000 respectively. With those three candidates accounting for 86% of all Facebook interactions among Democratic Senate candidates, a strong social media presence might not necessarily result in a "blue wave" in November.
*Click below to enlarge (charted by Statista)
