Brandwatch Offers A Complete Look at the 2016 Presidential Election

As the U.S. election draws to a close today, Brandwatch has released the final batch of data for the campaign.

With the American people heading to the polls tomorrow, Brandwatch has examined debates, conventions and the issues within past newsletters. Perhaps all there is left to do is step back and look at this election as a whole - in all its awesome and gruesome glory.

Overall Data Points

It’s important to remember that the two remaining candidates, from major political parties, didn’t begin their quest for the White House at the same time.

Hillary Clinton announced her candidacy on April 12, 2015, while Donald Trump announced his on June 16, 2015. Keep this in mind as you take in the following data points.

Overall Twitter Mentions Over Each Campaign’s Lifespan:

· Donald Trump with more than 229 million mentions.

· Hillary Clinton with over 127 million mentions.

We are looking at a mention discrepancy of around 100 million mentions, and it bears considering that Clinton’s conversation started two months before Trump’s.

Trump’s ability to demand headlines, his unorthodox statements and his penchant for publishing off-the-cuff tweets really contributed to his absolutely massive Twitter conversation.

Both candidates saw their top three day-over-day conversation peaks on the days that hosted the three presidential debates.

Overall Conversation Sentiment:

·         Donald Trump - 50.7% positive; 49.3% negative

·         Hillary Clinton - 48.8% positive; 51.2% negative

Media pundits and polls have long stated that these two candidates are the most disliked nominees in political history. This is reflected in their polarised conversation sentiments above.When you see a sentiment close to 50/50, people are not talking about how a candidate is “not all bad,” they are fervently arguing their point against an opposite - and equally as fervent - point of view.

Mentions Across Gender:

· Donald Trump’s conversation saw men contribute 53.6% of mentions, with women accounting for 46.4% of mentions.

· Hillary Clinton’s discussion saw women contribute more at 48.2% of all mentions, but men still tweeted about her more at 51.8%.

This election will pass. No matter the outcome this process will cease, and in the distant - and not-so distant - future we can look back at these figures and know that debate wasn’t just waged on stages between candidates with television cameras focused on their faces, but online between everyday citizens.