Presidential Underdogs Score Big With Social Media

Presidential contenders Jim Gilmore and Martin O'Malley might not seem like much as far as poll numbers show, but according to social media mentions, they're star candidates.

Both former governors of neighboring states, O'Malley — running for the Democratic nomination — and Gilmore — seeking the Republican nomination — score big when it comes to social media mentions as monitored live by Brandwatch, a social media monitoring company headquartered in England.

Gilmore, who led the state of Virginia more than a decade ago, has 62.1 percent positive social media mentions and 37.9 percent negative mentions over the past three months, Brandwatch reported. Kentucky Sen. Rand Paul is close behind with 60.1 percent positive mentions and 39.9 percent negative mentions as of Monday evening.

When it comes to social media mentions, former Virginia Gov. Jim Gilmore is a winner. (Image via Brandwatch)

As far as the GOP presidential frontrunners go, their positive and negative mentions are a little closer to reaching equilibrium with business mogul Donald Trump actually racking in more negative than positive mentions — 51.2 percent and 48.8 percent, respectively. Texas Sen. Ted Cruz has 55.1 percent positive mentions and 44.9 percent negative mentions; Florida Sen. Marco Rubio has 55.2 percent positive mentions and 44.8 percent negative mentions.

As for the Democrats, O'Malley leads in terms of positive social media mentions over the past three months, but not by much. According to Brandwatch, O'Malley has 60.1 percent positive mentions and 39.9 percent negative mentions. Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders is close behind with 59.9 percent positive social media mentions and 40.1 percent negative mentions.

Former Maryland Gov. Martin O'Malley has more positive mentions on social media than any other candidate — but just barely. (Image via Brandwatch)

Like Trump, former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton has a higher percentage of negative social media mentions than positive ones – 51.2 percent and 48.8 percent, respectively.

"Social media is playing a significant role in understanding the key issues around the upcoming 2016 U.S. presidential election, and we don’t see that trend slowing down any time soon," Brandwatch said on its website.

According to Real Clear Politics' aggregated polling data, O'Malley is polling at 2.2 percent. In comparison, Clinton is polling at 51.6 percent, and Sanders is polling at 37.2 percent.

Gilmore isn't even registered on Real Clear Politics' polling data of Republican presidential candidates, but he did poll high enough to make Fox News' GOP undercard debate last week when he was even a trending topic on Twitter.

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