#GOPDebate: Trump gone wild and other hot topics you talked about
Rand Paul made fun of Chris Christie for giving Obama big hugs. Ben Carson made too many brain jokes. Jeb Bush over-exaggerated his accomplishments and Trump just did and said whatever he wanted.
The first presidential debate is over. But besides entertainment, what did it actually do? Was any semblance of sanity injected into the debate after months of Trump gone wild and subsequent desperate, attention-grabbing stunts from other candidates?
Sanity? Maybe not. But we do have some data about what and who people talked about before and during the debate.
Facebook gave us data about the five most talked about political topics in the U.S. on the social media network before and during the debate:
Immigration moved way up, partially because the Fox news team asked the candidates questions about it. Donald Trump, the most-talked-about and most-searched candidate, also took credit for those conversations.
“If it weren’t for me, you wouldn’t even be talking about illegal immigration,” Trump said. “This was not a subject that was on anybody’s mind until I brought it up at my announcement.”
He’s actually wrong about that. As much as Google search interest in Trump has skyrocketed since he announced his candidacy, immigration has remained a steady interest.
Though race was an issue people wanted to hear about, the candidates hardly addressed it, which may have fueled more social conversation. Only one question was asked about the #BlackLivesMatter movement, and it came to Scott Walker. He talked about training cops.
He didn’t even mention or acknowledge race, or black lives, in his response. That got some people talking:
We also have data from both Facebook and Google about who people were talking about before and after.
Donald Trump remained near the top of the charts throughout the event.
In the early “JV debate,” aka the group that didn’t make the top 10 cut, some candidates stood to gain, particularly Carly Fiorina. She was the most searched candidate, apart from Trump, in the polls for the prime time. She came in with low name recognition, which could account for how much she was searched. But in the debate Fiorina was strong in confronting both Hillary Clinton and Trump.
“Since [Donald Trump] has changed his mind on amnesty, on health care and on abortion, I would just ask, what are the principles by which he will govern?” Fiorina asked.
Ben Carson, the only other person who was asked about race during the prime time debate, was also being talked about. He was ranked seventh of the candidates in terms of Facebook interactions (how many people liked, posted, commented or shared something about the candidate) going into the debate. But during, he was the second most discussed on Facebook.
Google Trends on the debate also reveals the top things on people’s minds during the debate.
People got personal. The top question for nearly every candidate was either about how tall he or she is or how old. Other top questions included whether various candidates were married, religious affiliation and ethnicity.
We’ll see how these questions evolve as the elections draw nearer.
