The election’s most-popular Tweets from candidates

There’s  been plenty of news coverage about candidates who have “made mistakes” on social media. It’s about time we checked in on how candidates are doing social media well.

For this post, I’ve used 76insights to discover which three candidates from each party can boast having a “most-popular” Tweet. A “most popular” Tweet is measured by adding the Retweets and Favorites.

Conservative

Prime Minister Stephen Harper has issued the most popular election Tweet, so far. His September 5 non-partisan appeal to NDP leader Thomas Mulcair and Liberal leader Justin Trudeau that they watch Blue Jays games from their campaign buses came after each leader separately attended a Toronto Blue Jays home game loss. That Tweet has earned 1,045 Retweets and 1,523 Favorites.

Not surprisingly, the PM dominates his party’s top Tweet list. In fact, he’s issued the 33 most popular Tweets among his party’s candidates. Number 34 was issued by Minister Jason Kenney on August 15 (301 Retweets, 154 Favorites).

It’s not until number 70 that we see a top Tweet not issued by the PM or Minister Kenney. It was issued on August 9 by Minister Michelle Rempel (147 Retweets, 68 Favorites).

NDP

Thomas Mulcair assured Blue Jays fans that he and the other leaders have a busy September and October lined up, suggesting they won’t be able to attend any more games. In exchange, fans shows their appreciation with 771 Retweets and 779 Favorites.

In fact, he has the top 6 most-popular NDP Tweets. Number 7 is held by Olivia Chow. Her September 3 Tweet insisting Canada can do better for refugees included a link to an iPolitics article about Alan Kurdi. It was Retweeted 436 time and Favorited 354 times.

NDP Brampton East candidate Harbaljit S. Kahlon has the 12th most-popular NDP election Tweet. As of this writing, 228 people have Retweeted and 422 have Favorited his August 14 tweet featuring a photo of Drake’s blog post following the shooting at an event he hosted.

Liberal

When Liberal leader Justin Trudeau attended a Blue Jays home game on September 5, he scored a hat trick of party leader-attended Blue Jays losses. As with Stephen Harper and Thomas Mulcair, Trudeau’s Tweet declaring a moratorium on leader attendance of Jays games is the most popular tweet for his party, boasting 1,514 Retweets and 1,642 Favorites.

Justin Trudeau issued the top 41 most-popular Tweets by Liberal candidates. Marc Garneau is the second Liberal candidate to appear in the list. His September 2 rail against Chris Alexander has attracted 273 Retweets and 287 Favorites, earning him the 42nd position.

Then, it’s all Justin Trudeau until the 116th position which is held by Ralph Goodale. He captured 208 Retweets and 138 Favorites for his August 30 Tweet of an image showing support for Trudeau’s infrastructure investment plan.

Green

Elizabeth May’s Green Party leading election Tweet is actually a modified Retweet inviting Justin Trudeau to join her in a televised discussion of women’s issues that got a lot of attention — 349 Retweets and 387 Favorites-worth of attention.

North Vancouver candidate Claire Marten is the next in the GPC field to have a most-popular Tweet. Her August 6 rallying cry to have Elizabeth May included in all leaders debates attracted
167 Retweets and 112 Favorites, earning her the 16th position within her party.

Jo-Ann Roberts, running in Victoria / Oak Bay, issued a Tweet on September 11 encouraging people to vote. The tweet uses an image of Brigette DePape, the former Senate Page who held up a “Stop Harper” sign during the reading of the Throne Speech. With 102 Retweets and 63 Favorites, this is the 26th most-popular GPC election Tweet.