This year’s election season has been one of bold campaign moves, and not from just one candidate in particular. It’s been an election full of hashtags – #MakeAmericaGreatAgain, #ImWithHer, #FeeltheBern and now, #NeverTrump.
Bernie Sanders has been neck and neck with Donald Trump in the hashtag game, with several of his being popular campaign tools. In addition to #FeeltheBern, supporters have also used #WeAreBernie, #EnoughisEnough and #PoliticalRevolution, among others. Many of his hashtags are centered around themes of collective action, democracy, transparency and millennials. The term berniennials has even been coined, though it’s been far less successful. The themes of his hashtags make sense when looking at the word cloud below. Words such as “revolution,” “help,” “people” and “democratic” stand out from the cloud.
The hashtag #FeeltheBern has had a pretty consistent lifespan because election season continues until November. It appears that the hashtag was created early in January but peaked in its reach and influence in mid-January, specifically around January 17. Sanders and Hillary Clinton went head to head in a democratic debate either that night or the night after, so it’s possible that Sanders’ advisers or supporters rolled out the hashtag in full force in anticipation of the debate.
The hashtag has also seen overwhelming popularity in the USA compared to any other country. In news coverage, ‘other’ came in second with between 11 to 13 percent and Canada came in third, hovering around 2 to 3 percent. This makes sense because it’s an American election, so other countries are less likely to tweet about it.
Surprisingly, the most retweeted post using #FeeltheBern was anti-Sanders. It emphasizes Sanders’ socialist name tag and trivializes his message using short, punchy sentences and a comical stick figure illustration. The other top tweets came from celebrity supporters such as Josh Hutcherson and Hoodie Allen. The other ranking tweets came from Bernie Sanders’ account, which is interesting because the top 5 most retweeted tweets for #MakeAmericaGreatAgain came from Donald Trump’s account. It just goes to show that some candidates’ success comes from who they are, rather than their message.
FeelTheBern. Merica. pic.twitter.com/vFt3qt4Xvb
— Cloyd Rivers (@CloydRivers) January 27, 2016
Group: Annie Palmer, Michael Burke, Logan Reidsma and Rachel Gilbert
Nice voice. Keep it up!