When Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton confronted each other on the night of the first Presidential debate, the world was an audience. A record 84 million people watched the debate on television. It went to the record books as most watched presidential debate ever. But what perhaps went unnoticed was that social media came close to defeating the television in its own game. Adweek quoted a Nielsen report stating that 83 million people interacted through Facebook and Twitter on the debate night.
#PresidentialDebate | #HillaryClinton says that slashing taxes for wealthy brought recession in 2008-09. pic.twitter.com/s6uqfOARH3
— Kunal Ranjan ✍️ (@kunran82) September 27, 2016
I started my own personal experiment on the Twitter debate night. Using the popular hashtag #debatenight, I posted a series of polls so see the audience engagement patterns.
In wake of the Charlotte violence over the alleged killing of a Black American by the police, both Hillary and Trump spelled out their method to control gun. My online audience believed that Trump was inconsistent on his stand.
#Blacklivesmatter | Whose version on #Gunvoilence do you believe more today ? || #debatenight #Debates2016
— Kunal Ranjan ✍️ (@kunran82) September 27, 2016
As the heated debate went on, there were many interruptions by both candidates. My online audience believed that it was Donald Trump who interrupted on most occasions. Majority responded that it was Trump who interrupted the most.
#debatenight | Who interrupted more during the debate ?
— Kunal Ranjan ✍️ (@kunran82) September 27, 2016
I also asked if Donald Trump was wrong in dragging Barack Obama over the Birth Certificate controversy. Majority responded by saying that he was being racist.
#debatenight | Was #DonaldTrump wrong in dragging #BarackObama over birth certificate ?
— Kunal Ranjan ✍️ (@kunran82) September 27, 2016
On the question of supporting Iraq war, the majority believed that Trump was probably not speaking the truth.
#debatenight | #DonaldTrump says he never supported #iraqwar
— Kunal Ranjan ✍️ (@kunran82) September 27, 2016
Also, most of them believed that Hillary Clinton would be better in countering terrorism.
#ISIS | #debatenight who would be more effective in countering terrorism?
— Kunal Ranjan ✍️ (@kunran82) September 27, 2016
Finally, I asked who will be a better world leader.
#debatenight | Who will be a better world leader
— Kunal Ranjan ✍️ (@kunran82) September 27, 2016
Really great use of Twitter Kunal. The strangest media sensation from the debate, in my opinion, was the differing results from the immediate, unscientific polls immediately after the debate and the follow-up polls over the next week. The unscientific polls largely were in Trump’s favor, whereas more formal polls and analysis went towards Clinton. There are stories about various online communities organizing to rig the unscientific polls. We don’t just have election commentary anymore, there’s an entire election ecosystem on the web.