Looks like Facebook traffic on Republican presidential candidates is similar to what polls have found. Donald Trump got far more attention than any of ‘em on his announcement day.
Now that the field is virtually complete, Facebook looked at how the 16 major Republican candidates have fared on the social network. On the day Trump announced his candidacy June 16, 3.4 million people discussed the real estate mogul, far more than any other Republican on his announcement day. Next was Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, with 2.2 million. Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky., drew 865,000, followed by retired neurosurgeon Ben Carson, 847,000, Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker, 679,000 and former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush, 493,000.
Bush, though, got more attention in the 90 days before he announced, attracting an average of 85,000 “unique people” a day. Next came Cruz, Paul, Walker and Carson. Trump was eighth with 39,000 people. At the bottom was former New York Gov. George Pataki, who’s averaged less than 1,000 people per day.
The findings reflect not only curiosity about the candidate, but that their candidacies were long rumored to be in the works. Trump had flirted with a White House bid in previous years but hadn’t formally run, and that may have kept his pre-announcement numbers down.
The Facebook users were eager to talk foreign policy. In the week leading up to each candidate’s announcement, it was the most popular topic surrounding Cruz, Trump, Bush and six other candidates. Economic policy topped the list for only one candidate, Walker, while Carson and former business executive Carly Fiorina’s visitors wanted most to discuss crime and law enforcement issues.
Ohio Gov. John Kasich Tuesday became the 16th prominent Republican to declare his candidacy. Former Virginia Gov. Jim Gilmore is expected to enter the race early next month.
David Lightman: 202-383-6101, @lightmandavid