Presidential elections are often derided as a popularity contest. Well, that certainly cannot be true. Because if it were, Texas Rep. Ron Paul would be winning.
The GOP hopeful is the Twitterverse's clear candidate of choice, according to new data from the social media analysts at Crimson Hexagon.
So, yes, Kelly Clarkson was onto something.
Not only was Paul the most discussed candidate on Twitter on the day of the New Hampshire primary and the days before it, but he also received the highest number of positive mentions. In other words, he wasn't moving the Twitter needle just because people were ripping him.
And even the day after the New Hampshire primary, when Romney was taking his victory lap and being anointed The Man to Beat, Paul was still the most discussed contender, showing up in 27% of all candidate-related tweets, compared to Romney's 26%.
Of course in the only tally that matters, Romney crushed Paul in the primary with 39% of the vote to Paul's 22%. So this is what they refer to as a "moral victory."
And not everyone tweeting bouquets for Paul actually supports the candidate. The Twitter accounts for Nicole Scherzinger, No Doubt and Rise Against were hacked this week by Paul supporters, who posted messages from all three accounts.
The one posted to Scherzinger's account read, "For the first time ever a politician isn't lying to us. WAKE UP AMERICA! Ron Paul 2012 I Love this Guy #RonPaulRevolution."
And just in case anyone was fooled by the corny message, Rise Against soon tweeted "We were hacked. As you would all assume, We DO NOT support Ron Paul."
So clearly Twitter is full of support for Paul. Just not that much support.
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