While Democratic provocateur Tulsi Gabbard doesn't get written about as much as top-tier candidates, data suggests she's the most provocative.
The big picture: Her war of words with Hillary Clinton in October and her appeal to viral, right-wing media have driven outsized interest in stories about her, according to data from NewsWhip provided exclusively to Axios.
By the numbers: Over the last three months, stories about Gabbard have averaged 858 interactions on social media (likes, comments, shares) — more than any other candidate.
The other leaders for interactions per story are the field's front-runners. Only Joe Biden (851) comes close, though many of the biggest articles about him are related to Trump, Ukraine and impeachment.
The backstory: Gabbard's friendly fire against Democrats has made for some of the most viral moments of the primary.
She fired back after Hillary Clinton suggested that Russia was "grooming her to be the third-party candidate."
Between the lines: Her attacks on Democrats and the party have made her a favorite for right-wing media publications, many of which have supercharged social media audiences.
Of the 15 biggest stories about Gabbard over the last three months, 12 have come from right-leaning publishers.
The top five stories:
Tulsi Gabbard calls Hillary Clinton the ‘embodiment of corruption’ — New York Post (291k interactions)
Gabbard dares Clinton to run for president in 2020, fights back against assertions that she is a Russian asset — Fox News (109k)
Gabbard to Clinton: You are 'queen of warmongers ... personification of the rot that has sickened' Democrats — CNS News (103k)
Hillary Clinton suggests Russians are 'grooming' Tulsi Gabbard for third-party run — CNN (90k)
Gabbard threatens to boycott Ohio debate, claims DNC is 'rigging' primaries — Fox News (85k)
Our 2020 attention trackeris based on data from NewsWhip exclusively provided to Axios as part of a project that will regularly update throughout the 2020 campaign.
The big picture: Warren's recent decline among college students mirrors polling of the general population, but while Pete Buttigieg has been gaining among all voters during that time, Sanders is the one who's gained the mostamong students.
Between the lines: Warren's descent in national polls followed criticism around how she planned to pay for Medicare for All.
But the corresponding spike for Sanders — who wrote the Medicare for All legislation — among college students is a sign that their problems with Warren aren't due to her support for the idea.
By the numbers: Buttigieg was the only other candidate to gain more than 1 point in this poll since October.
President Trump ranks second in the poll, behind Sanders and ahead of Warren. But he's the sole Republican alternative, while students who prefer Democrats have divided loyalties. Considered another way, less than one in five college students would vote for the president.
Flashback: In April, Biden led the College Reaction/Axios polling of college students at 18.9%, with Sanders second at 15.1%.
Methodology: The poll was conducted Dec. 2-4 from a representative sample of 1,026 college students with a margin of error of +/- 3.1%.
College Reaction’s polling is conducted using a demographically representative panel of college students from around the country. The surveys are administered digitally and use college e-mail addresses as an authentication tool to ensure current enrollment in a four-year institution. The target for the general population sample was students currently enrolled in accredited 4-year institutions in the United States.
Data: NewsWhip; Chart: Chris Canipe/Axios - Note: Hover over the weekly rank on desktop to see articles and interactions for each candidate and issue.
In just three weeks, billionaire Michael Bloomberg has captured a level of media attention that's eluded most 2020 Democrats with months on the trail and in debates.
The big picture: Recent stories about Bloomberg generated more social media interactions than Amy Klobuchar, Andrew Yang, Julián Castro or Tom Steyer have ever gotten, according to data from NewsWhip provided exclusively to Axios.
On Nov. 8, the day after it was first reported that Bloomberg was preparing to enter the race, he was mentioned more on cable news than any Democratic candidate other than Joe Biden and Bernie Sanders on a single day this year, according to the Internet Archive Television News Archive.
In November, Bloomberg has been mentioned more on cable news than every candidate except Biden and Elizabeth Warren.
Bloomberg's mentions this month on cable news (4,486) have more than doubled Yang's throughout his entire campaign (2,167). Yet Yang is polling ahead of Bloomberg.
For each of the last three weeks, stories about Bloomberg have generated more interactions (comments, likes, shares) on social media than another billionaire candidate, Tom Steyer, has ever gotten in the race.
Be smart: Bloomberg is packaging this earned media with an unprecedented self-funded multimillion-dollar television advertising blitz, giving the former New York mayor, businessman and philanthropist an unparalleled ability to reach voters.
Yes, but: For all the buzz, Bloomberg so far is at just 3% in a CNN poll released Wednesday — and 2.5% in the RealClearPolitics average of six surveys conducted during the past two weeks.
By the numbers: The biggest wave of attention for Bloomberg came on the week of the New York Times report that he was preparing to jump in.
While some of the early coverage has touched on Bloomberg's vulnerabilities with women and minority voters, the sentiment of the 10 biggest stories about Bloomberg was neutral and straightforward
New poll has Michael Bloomberg beating Donald Trump by 6 points — Daily Caller (113k interactions)
Michael Bloomberg prepares for a presidential bid — NBC News (109k interactions)
Michael Bloomberg is expected to file for the Alabama 2020 presidential primary — NYT (88k)
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Our 2020 attention tracker is based on data from NewsWhip exclusively provided to Axios as part of a project that will regularly update throughout the 2020 campaign.
Why this tracker matters: The data on interactions — including likes, comments and shares — highlights an important, but under-appreciated element of an election: the ability to see beyond our own social feeds and understand the broader universe playing out of how candidates and issues are moving the minds of voters.
It measures enthusiasm in a way that traditional polling does not.
The sample size taken from these social media platforms is massive.
Social media is powered by emotion-driven content, and emotional responses are likely to be aligned with a voter's true beliefs in a way that can be masked in polling.
While the volume of interactions does not gauge the sentiment of the reactions, the ability to generate reach allows a candidate to expand the universe of potential voters.
Bots also cannot be ignored, and we will point out in this space if there are documented instances of bot activity for certain candidates or issues.
Methodology: This project measures the number of social media interactions generated on stories published about the 2020 candidates and issues.
Interactions are calculated from reactions, comments and shares on those stories on Facebook as well as the number of shares from more than 300,000 influential Twitter accounts and retweets and likes on those posts.
Tracked published stories come from a defined universe of more than 450,000 domains.
A story registers for a candidate or issue if the keyword is mentioned in the headline, summary or URL of the story.
Our search format for candidates looks like: "Joe Biden" OR ("Biden" AND ("President" OR "2020" OR "election" OR "Democrats" OR "primary")).
For issues, we use a keyword tree for related terms.
