#GASen: More vanishing GOPers, strong Dem networks (+ bonus bot!)

Posted on October 21, 2020October 21, 2020 by john

District summary: #GASen is actually two districts, thanks to the magic of special elections (and non-specific Twitter hashtags). The first is the regular election for current GOP officeholder David Perdue’s seat, where Democrat Jon Ossof is the primary challenger. The second is the special election for well-heeled GOP incumbent Kelly Loeffler‘s seat, which is still Read more about #GASen: More vanishing GOPers, strong Dem networks (+ bonus bot!)[…]

#GA-07: The case of the disappearing GOP

Posted on October 19, 2020October 19, 2020 by john

District summary: Georgia’s 7th congressional district: An open-seat district where Twitter megaphones have brought considerable attention from around the country. Several high-intensity non-campaign accounts and retweet networks have driven traffic to outsized levels here over past months. But in the last week, Republicans have practically disappeared. Current status: Democrats supporting Carolyn Bourdeaux, a professor and Read more about #GA-07: The case of the disappearing GOP[…]

Tracking potential traffic manipulation for districts and hashtags

Posted on October 13, 2020October 13, 2020 by john

SUMMARY: Pollchatter’s “Hashtag warnings” and “District warnings” pages give an indication of which hashtags and districts might be the target of deliberate traffic manipulation. Numbers matter on Twitter. Retweets, likes, followers, networks of influence. But it’s not always obvious how fluctuations in these factors should be interpreted. It’s thus helpful to have a measure of Read more about Tracking potential traffic manipulation for districts and hashtags[…]

Hashtag spotlight: #defundthepolice

Posted on October 7, 2020October 7, 2020 by john

Here is an irony of political opportunism. After months of protest, broken families and some real social progress, #defundthepolice is among the top-ranking hashtags in Pollchatter’s election-Twitter watch. However, it’s entirely Republicans driving it. Yesterday’s massive surge came largely from retweets of a post by GOP challenger Sean Parnell in PA-17. Parnell accuses Democratic incumbent Read more about Hashtag spotlight: #defundthepolice[…]