Politics

Who is the most talked about candidate in Georgia, via social media

Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump poses for photographers with Colton Jordan, 5, of Cario, Ga., top, who dresses up like Trump following a rally at Valdosta State University in Valdosta, Ga., Monday, Feb. 29, 2016. (AP Photo/Andrew Harnik)
Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump poses for photographers with Colton Jordan, 5, of Cario, Ga., top, who dresses up like Trump following a rally at Valdosta State University in Valdosta, Ga., Monday, Feb. 29, 2016. (AP Photo/Andrew Harnik)
By Erica Hernandez
March 1, 2016

SEC Primary day is here. And the social media conversation in Georgia surrounding both the Democratic and Republican candidates has shifted. Here are the latest numbers via Facebook and the popular social media app, Yik Yak.

Related: Here’s everything you need to know to vote in Georgia’s presidential primary.

Florida Sen. Marco Rubio has seen his popularity surge among millennials while Bernie Sanders has seen a dip in his, according to Yik Yak.

But on Facebook, Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump claim the top spots in the state.

In the past week, Rubio has inched closer to a 50 percent approval rate and is now the most positively viewed candidate among Yik Yak users in Georgia.

Yik Yak, which is based in Atlanta, measured the volume of conversation about each presidential candidate from Georgia users and determined whether those statements were negative, positive or neutral based on a mix of natural language processing and human review.

The company says 98 percent of its users are millennials.

Ohio Gov. John Kasich is right behind Rubio in terms of approval, though he dominates much less of the conversation. Kasich is the second to last candidate in terms of mentions. He’s just barely ahead of retired neurosurgeon Ben Carson.

Related: See the full breakdown of the Yik Yak and Facebook conversations surround presidential candidates in Georgia, here.

Trump is the most talked about candidate on Yik Yak, claiming 77.6 percent of the Republican conversation.

In the past week, Clinton was the subject of about 34 percent of the Democratic conversation mentions on Yik Yak. This is a small jump from the 32.5 percent she was holding down at the middle of the month, on Feb. 17.

Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders continues to dominate the Atlanta Yik Yak conversation with about 66 percent of the conversation in the week leading up to the SEC Primary.

The conversation on Facebook isn’t too different.  Over the past month in Georgia Clinton and Trump have also dominated there.

About 585,000 people on Facebook in Georgia liked, posted about, commented on or shared content related to Hillary Clinton, more than 3.5 million times.

Nearly a million Georgia Facebook users focused on Trump and they shared content related to him more than 6.4 million times. 

The most discussed issue in Georgia is Christianity, followed by immigration and the homeland security.

Could this be telling as to who will win Georgia’s delegates at the end of the day on March 1?

Follow AJC's full coverage of the Georgia Primary on Tuesday to find out.

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Erica Hernandez

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