Republican House candidates are outpacing Democrats on social media by a large margin, receiving up to seven times more shares per post, according to a new study.
A recent analysis by marketing firm Online Impact Group shows a significant disparity in social media performance between Republican and Democratic candidates for the U.S. House of Representatives.
The study suggests that Republican candidates are outperforming their Democratic counterparts on Facebook and Instagram, potentially influencing voter engagement and the outcome of the upcoming 2024 election.
Other social media platforms, chiefly TikTok and X (formerly Twitter), were not included in the analysis due to the small sample size of candidates found across both, Steve Chafe, Chief Impact Officer, Online Impact Group, told Newsweek.
Conducted from October 1 to October 14, 2024, the study analyzed 15,756 social media posts across 1,313 Facebook and Instagram profiles belonging to U.S. House candidates. The findings highlight a significant gap in key engagement metrics such as likes and shares, which are important indicators of a post’s reach and resonance among followers.
On Facebook, Republican candidates received over four times more likes per post than Democratic candidates. On average, Republican posts garnered 104 likes, while Democratic posts received 25 likes. Republicans also received nearly seven times more shares per post, averaging 35 shares compared to Democrats’ 5 shares.
On Instagram, Republican candidates saw nearly five times more likes per post than Democrats. The average Republican post received 310 likes, whereas the average Democratic post garnered 65 likes.
Overall, the total volume of likes and shares indicates that Democratic messaging is being engaged with at less than a quarter of the volume of Republican messaging on social media platforms.
“From our perspective as marketing engineers, we believe the disparity can be attributed in large part to the GOP being more business-aligned, leading to a pool of Republican candidates with more business savvy in their world of shared knowledge than Democratic candidates have,” Chafe told Newsweek.
“What can be considered positive social media results are almost the same for a candidate as for a business. The most important results include top-of-mind awareness (a metric for what first comes to mind when someone thinks of a brand) and brand affinity,” he added.
Stock illustration of the elephant and donkey, symbols of the U.S. Republican and Democratic parties, respectively. A new study has shown that GOP House representatives are significantly outperforming their Democratic counterparts on social media. Stock illustration of the elephant and donkey, symbols of the U.S. Republican and Democratic parties, respectively. A new study has shown that GOP House representatives are significantly outperforming their Democratic counterparts on social media. serazetdinov/Getty Images
This disparity in engagement also impacts how social media algorithms promote content. Platforms like Facebook and Instagram favor posts with higher interaction rates, meaning Republican candidates’ messages are more likely to be amplified and shown to a broader audience, including non-followers.
“Shares are one of the most beneficial signals that any post can give back to the social media platform’s algorithms,” the study notes. “Among other signals, the algorithms watch each post’s number of shares as they decide who else to show the post to – including people who aren’t yet followers.”
“As a result, the Democratic candidates’ lower number of likes and shares give their Republican counterparts’ messaging enhanced reach over Democrats’ messaging,” noted the study.
Chafe said, “Our findings indicate that Democratic candidates may be falling behind in creating engaging content that resonates with their followers and spreads their message.”
“This gap in social media performance could have real-world consequences for voter engagement and turnout,” he added.
Additionally, recent research from the Pew Research Center has found that Republicans are now almost as likely to trust information that comes from social media sites as they are to trust information from national news organizations.
In a survey of U.S. adults carried out between September 16 and 24, 37 percent of Republicans and those who lean Republican, say they trust information from social media sites either “a lot” or “somewhat” in comparison to 40 percent who express the same levels of trust in national news organizations.
In comparison, while Democrats and Democratic-leaning independents (38 percent) have “at least some trust” in information coming from social media sites, a majority (78 percent) have the same level of trust in national news organizations.
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