Review: Massachusetts Voters Liked Hillary Clinton’s Debate Performance On Social Media

Senator Bernie Sanders and former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton at the CNN debate. Via AP

Massachusetts residents expressed mostly positive feelings about Hillary Clinton on social media during Tuesday night’s debate according to a review by a local consulting agency.

O’Neill and Associates scanned 20 different social media platforms, like Twitter and Facebook, on Tuesday to determine what social media users were saying about the candidates. The review found Clinton was the candidate social media users liked and engaged with the most:

A targeted analysis of Hillary Clinton mentions in Massachusetts largely reflected what Clinton aides and supporters were celebrating after the candidates left the stage: the debate was, at minimum, a successfully navigated challenge and perhaps a meaningful step forward for Hillary Clinton’s campaign.

Her first – and largest – spike came during her introduction with 4,090 mentions, the overwhelming majority of which reflected positive sentiment. By the night’s end, analysis showed that the conversations surrounding her on social media were overwhelmingly positive.

The review of more than 8,000 social media conversations in Massachusetts, most of which took place on Twitter and Facebook, found Secretary Clinton earning either positive or neutral mentions close to 80 percent of the time throughout the duration of the CNN/Facebook-sponsored debate.

Clinton support and interest drove key social media metrics – with trending hashtags such as #imwithher and #hillary2016 appearing in hundreds of conversations originated by Massachusetts social media users. The social media landscape across the Bay State also lent support when Clinton rivals started firing political shots, such as former Rhode Island Governor Lincoln Chafee’s early remark that he has been unmarked by scandal.

The survey showed social media users reacted positively to the debate not just in Massachusetts but across all of New England. This is not too surprising as the candidates rarely strayed from commonly held Democratic ideals.

According to the analysis, the two high points for Clinton came when she introduced herself at the beginning of the debate and when Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders blasted the media’s focus on the scandal over her private email server.

In 2008, Clinton won the Massachusetts Democratic primary with 56 percent of the vote.