Trump Versus Clinton: Twitter Communication During the US Primaries

Jennifer Fromm, Stefanie Melzer, Bjorn Ross, Stefan Stieglitz

Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceedingConference contribution

Abstract / Description of output

When Donald Trump won the Republican nomination and subsequently beat Hillary Clinton in the presidential elections, his success came as a surprise to most observers. This research contributes to understanding the dynamics of this unusual campaign, in which social media played a prominent role. We collected 6099 tweets by both nominees during the presidential primaries and identified the 21 most frequently discussed issues through computer-assisted content analysis. Secondly, we used time series analysis to investigate whether the candidates influenced each other’s political agendas. Most tweets by the candidates were found not to be about policy but about parties, other politicians, and the media. Of the political issues that were discussed, the most prominent ones were employment, family, minorities and terrorism. For tweets about minorities, we found possible evidence of agenda setting. We conclude that social media are mainly being used to reach out to supporters, instead of interacting with the opponent.
Original languageEnglish
Title of host publicationNetwork Intelligence Meets User Centered Social Media Networks
EditorsReda Alhajj, H. Ulrich Hoppe, Tobias Hecking, Piotr Bródka, Przemyslaw Kazienko
Place of PublicationCham
PublisherSpringer
Pages201-217
Number of pages17
ISBN (Print)978-3-319-90312-5
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 1 Aug 2018
Event4th European Network Intelligence Conference - Duisburg, Germany
Duration: 11 Sept 201712 Sept 2017
https://enic.collide.info/

Publication series

NameLecture Notes in Social Networks
ISSN (Electronic)2190-5428

Conference

Conference4th European Network Intelligence Conference
Abbreviated titleENIC 2017
Country/TerritoryGermany
CityDuisburg
Period11/09/1712/09/17
Internet address

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