This Week’s 2016 Twitter Power Rankings
Photo by Spencer Platt/Getty Images
Hello and welcome to Week 13 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.
Without any further ado:
1.) Donald Trump (Last Week: 2)
Refugees from Syria are now pouring into our great country. Who knows who they are - some could be ISIS. Is our president insane?
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) November 17, 2015
2.) Bernie Sanders (1)
Horrified by the attacks in Paris tonight. My thoughts are with the victims and their loved ones.
— Bernie Sanders (@BernieSanders) November 13, 2015
3.) Hillary Clinton (3)
We've seen a lot of hateful rhetoric from the GOP. But the idea that we'd turn away refugees because of religion is a new low. -H
— Hillary Clinton (@HillaryClinton) November 17, 2015
4.) Ben Carson (4)
My thoughts and prayers are with the people in Paris tonight.
— Dr. Ben Carson (@RealBenCarson) November 13, 2015
5.) Ted Cruz (5)
We cannot defeat radical Islamic terrorism with a POTUS who refuses to utter the words “radical Islamic terrorism!” https://t.co/CLOo7xkxeg
— Ted Cruz (@tedcruz) November 15, 2015
6.) Marco Rubio (7)
Praying for victims of attacks in Paris and for those reportedly held hostage.
— Marco Rubio (@marcorubio) November 13, 2015
7.) Carly Fiorina (9)
I mourn with you. I pray with you. I stand with you. America must lead in the world. We must wage & win this fight against Islamic terrorism
— Carly Fiorina (@CarlyFiorina) November 14, 2015
8.) George Pataki (16)
The dark days of 9/11 have never left me - hell on earth. @HillaryClinton was there with me, but you wouldn’t know it today.
— George E. Pataki (@GovernorPataki) November 14, 2015
9.) Jeb Bush (6)
Praying for Paris tonight. America will stand with you against terror.
— Jeb Bush (@JebBush) November 13, 2015
10.) Rand Paul (11)
My thoughts & prayers are with the people of Paris. America must stand united with France as they face this truly horrific act of terrorism
— Dr. Rand Paul (@RandPaul) November 13, 2015
11.) Mike Huckabee (8)
You're all grown up now. You can do it. Three words. Ten syllables. Say it with me: "Radical Islamic terrorism." #DemDebate
— Gov. Mike Huckabee (@GovMikeHuckabee) November 15, 2015
12.) Martin O'Malley (10)
They are rejecting our values in the face of fear & ignorance. Keeping America safe and staying true to who we are is not a zero-sum choice.
— Martin O'Malley (@MartinOMalley) November 16, 2015
13.) Chris Christie (15)
These two have no idea what they are talking about. pic.twitter.com/XUkS48CgYS
— Chris Christie (@ChrisChristie) November 16, 2015
14.) Rick Santorum (14)
Yes, @HillaryClinton we are at war with radical Islam! You are not qualified to serve if you cannot even define our enemy! #DemDebate
— Rick Santorum (@RickSantorum) November 15, 2015
15.) John Kasich (13)
We can't wait any longer. ISIS must be wiped out. #Paris pic.twitter.com/q26Bbn9gOA
— John Kasich (@JohnKasich) November 14, 2015
16.) Lindsey Graham (17)
This isn't just an attack on the French people, it's an attack on human decency & all things that we hold dear.
— Lindsey Graham (@LindseyGrahamSC) November 13, 2015
17.) Jim Gilmore (18)
#ParisAttacks The Western order of democracy and liberty is under assault, and must be defended.
— Jim Gilmore (@gov_gilmore) November 13, 2015
Double Winner: Donald Trump
The Donald bested the field in both the Single RT category and the Overall RT one this week. That's fitting given much of the Beltway was convinced that the terrorist attacks in Paris would knock Trump out of what they promised would be a more sober and responsible political discussion about national security. Instead, on the trail (as on Twitter), it was Trump that was setting the terms of the GOP debate.
Gone and Quickly Forgotten: Bobby Jindal
It’s been an incredible honor to run for President of this great country. Thank you: https://t.co/IhDcIWOSg8 pic.twitter.com/iRTJ7Bl5IW
— Gov. Bobby Jindal (@BobbyJindal) November 17, 2015
Slate-Themed Tweet of the Week: Trump
I agree! The headline says it all. #Trump2016 #MakeAmericaGreatAgain https://t.co/TWslpJPQG0
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) November 16, 2015
Actually, no, no it doesn't, Donald.