Twitter reacts to Hillary and Bernie’s debate showdown.

How Partisans on Twitter Are Reacting to the Latest Hillary-Bernie Debate Showdown

How Partisans on Twitter Are Reacting to the Latest Hillary-Bernie Debate Showdown

Who's winning, who's losing, and why.
Jan. 17 2016 8:43 PM

What Twitter Is Saying About the Democratic Debate

Check out the instant spin room.

Bernie hillary debate.
Democratic president candidates Bernie Sanders and Hillary Clinton debate at Saint Anselm College on Dec. 19, 2015, in Manchester, New Hampshire.

Photo by Andrew Burton/Getty Images

On Sunday, the Democrats will hold their final debate before the Iowa caucuses. Despite the Democratic National Committee’s intentional dearth of debates, and despite the fact that said debates are mainly occurring on low-visibility weekends (and some even lower-visibility holiday weekends), and despite her enormous built-in advantages, Democratic front-runner Hillary Clinton once again finds herself in a competitive race with Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders. The 74-year-old socialist Larry David lookalike trails Clinton by just 2 points in the gold standard Des Moines Register/Bloomberg poll in Iowa, released this past week. Coupled with recent polls showing him with a lead in the subsequent New Hampshire primary, Sanders has a real chance to disrupt the entire Democratic race. The unexpected closeness of the early contests raises the stakes for Sunday’s matchup in Charleston, South Carolina. Partisans on both sides will be carefully watching every moment for weaknesses from either candidate. Watching along with them is fun! Below are live tweets, drawn from a list of top political accounts curated by Slate. Those who lean left are on the left; those who lean right are on the right. Enjoy the instant spin!


Chris Kirk is a web developer at New York magazine and Slate’s former interactives editor. Follow him on Twitter.

Jeremy Stahl is a Slate senior editor. You can follow him on Twitter.