This Week’s 2016 Twitter Power Rankings
Hello and welcome to Week 6 of the Slatest’s 2016 Twitter Power Rankings. Above, you’ll find our handy interactive of the entire week’s worth of candidate tweets: how many each White House hopeful sent and how often they were retweeted and favorited, along with how each fared in the 140-character fight with their political rivals on both sides of the aisle. (Click to zoom in on a particular candidate, and click again to see the content of each tweet.)
Below, meanwhile, you’ll find our tried-and-true method of ranking each candidate’s single most successful tweet of the past seven days. Together, the two offer a helpful snapshot of which topics dominated the political conversation online and also give us some insight into which contenders are winning the campaign Twitter wars and why.
The ground rules again:
- For the rankings below, we’re defining a candidate’s most successful tweet as the one that receives the most retweets.
- Tweets that include a direct request for a retweet are ineligible for the traditional rankings because that’s cheating. RT if you agree! (Retweet-begging tweets, though, will still appear in the interactive at the top.)
- Only tweets from the past seven days are eligible. Since we’ll publish the weekly rankings every Friday, that means any tweet sent in the seven days prior to when we hit the big red button at around 10 a.m. to cull all the data.
You’ll find this week’s takeaways at the bottom, but without any further ado:
1.) Bernie Sanders (Last week: 1)
I #StandWithPP. These attacks come from those who simply don’t believe women have a right to control their own bodies. I disagree. #PinkOut
— Bernie Sanders (@BernieSanders) September 29, 2015
2.) Donald Trump (2)
Do you believe this - Iran wants to trade our 3 prisoners (not 4) for 19 prisoners held by the U.S. Should have been let go with last deal!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) September 28, 2015
3.) Hillary Clinton (3)
Another devastating shooting. We need sensible gun control measures to save lives, and I will do everything I can to achieve that. -H
— Hillary Clinton (@HillaryClinton) October 1, 2015
4.) Ben Carson (4)
— Dr. Ben Carson (@RealBenCarson) September 25, 2015
5.) Ted Cruz (6)
We should not give $500 million to a corrupt organization that is selling unborn children's body parts #DefundPP https://t.co/LErUGUiI2I
— Ted Cruz (@tedcruz) September 29, 2015
6.) Martin O'Malley (11)
Tweets won't stop this. Thoughts and prayers won't, either. Only real gun reforms will stop mass shootings from occurring nearly every day.
— Martin O'Malley (@MartinOMalley) October 1, 2015
7.) Mike Huckabee (8)
300k vets died waiting for healthcare, but Congress pumps $500 million into #PlannedParenthood each year. Talk about priorities.
— Gov. Mike Huckabee (@GovMikeHuckabee) September 29, 2015
8.) Jeb Bush (7)
Praying for Umpqua Community College, the victims, and families impacted by this senseless tragedy.
— Jeb Bush (@JebBush) October 1, 2015
9.) Rick Santorum (14)
How do I know #PlannedParenthood is breaking the law? Because I wrote the law banning partial birth abortions! #DefundPP
— Rick Santorum (@RickSantorum) September 29, 2015
10.) Rand Paul (5)
Don't like Obamacare? You'll hate Trumpcare. "The government will pay for it??" It will be bankrupt faster than his Atlantic City Casinos.
— Dr. Rand Paul (@RandPaul) September 28, 2015
11.) Marco Rubio (9)
WATCH: This is why America isn't fulfilling its potential. https://t.co/goxAfabEnR
— Marco Rubio (@marcorubio) September 28, 2015
12.) Carly Fiorina (10)
Q: Why are you a conservative? Get answers to your questions at http://t.co/sIWIyxiodv. #Carly2016 https://t.co/4RfYQrlGSB
— Carly Fiorina (@CarlyFiorina) September 26, 2015
13.) George Pataki (17)
.@Twitter is a great American company that should not give a platform to terrorists or traitors - @Jack shutdown @Snowden today.
— George E. Pataki (@GovernorPataki) September 29, 2015
14.) Bobby Jindal (15)
If Senate Majority Leader McConnell isn't willing to stand up & fight, he should take Speaker Boehner’s lead and surrender his gavel. #VVS15
— Gov. Bobby Jindal (@BobbyJindal) September 25, 2015
15.) John Kasich (13)
The thoughts and prayers of Ohioans go out to the families & victims of the tragic shooting in Oregon today. -John
— John Kasich (@JohnKasich) October 1, 2015
16.) Chris Christie (16)
I admire @SpeakerBoehner for his dedication and service to this country. He's a good man and I wish him well.
— Chris Christie (@ChrisChristie) September 25, 2015
17.) Lawrence Lessig (20)
https://t.co/dsgQ0bP4Gv Every political issue is tied to this “one issue.” Achieving citizens equality in America. pic.twitter.com/GQ1r0KtQys
— Lessig2016 (@Lessig2016) September 26, 2015
18.) Lindsey Graham (12)
Only @BarackObama and @JohnKerry could be so naive on Russia's intentions http://t.co/bfQWI2WXog
— Lindsey Graham (@LindseyGrahamSC) October 1, 2015
19.) Lincoln Chafee (18)
Mr. @Snowden-Fed court ruled you're right! I'm the only presidential candidate who has vowed to bring you home, charges dropped. #chafee2016
— Lincoln Chafee (@LincolnChafee) September 29, 2015
20.) Jim Webb (19)
A lot out there today about Jim Webb's interview last night on Fox Radio. Read & hear it for yourself: http://t.co/zDn6Icsh4M #WebbNation
— Jim Webb (@JimWebbUSA) September 29, 2015
21.) Jim Gilmore (21)
Putin has a clear goal in Syria. He knows Obama, Kerry and Ash Carter don't. Leading from behind means you get kicked in your derriere.
— James S Gilmore (@gov_gilmore) September 30, 2015
Overall RT Winner: the Donald!
As has become painfully clear by now, Trump tweets like no one else in the field. What wasn’t clear until this week, though, was whom the GOP front-runner has to thank for his social media success: Justin McConney, the 29-year-old son of a Trump exec. According to Politico, McConney became Trump’s director of social media in 2011 after stints working on the billionaire’s beauty pageants and reality television shows. In the four-plus years since, Trump’s gone from 300,000 followers to more than 4.3 million. Among the stunts that McConney’s given credit for: His boss’s previous participation in the ice bucket challenge, which garnered more than 1.3 million YouTube views, and more recently, his brutal Instagram attacks on Jeb Bush.
Single Tweet Winner: Bernie!
For the second week running, Sanders managed to best Clinton (and Trump) in the single tweet RT wars. This time, though, it was on a topic one would think Hillary would have an advantage on as the only woman in the Democratic race: Planned Parenthood and women’s health. Still, Clinton was anything but silent on the issue: Two of her five most RT-ed tweets were #StandWithPP-related. Republicans, meanwhile, were also using the organization to rile up their base: Ted Cruz, Mike Huckabee, and Rick Santorum all found their own success on the #DefundPP side of the debate.
Responding to Roseburg: Prayers vs. calls for action.*
Clinton and Martin O'Malley both took to Twitter following Thursday’s mass shooting in Oregon to call for stricter gun laws—a sentiment they shared with President Obama, who told Americans that “our thoughts and prayers are not enough.” Condolences, though, were the only thing the GOP field had to offer.
*Correction Oct. 2, 2015: An earlier version of this post misspelled the name of the city where Thursday's mass shooting took place. It is Roseburg, not Roseberg.