Bernie Sanders's Social Media Legacy

18 months ago, unless you were well versed in politics (and even then), you probably didn’t know who Bernie Sanders was. Fast-forward a year and a half, the outspoken, progressive, Independent Senator not only transformed the political landscape, but also came within one step of becoming the Democratic Nominee for the President of the United States.

While it’s true that Hillary Clinton has not officially become the nominee, she is the presumptive nominee. If the past is any indication, superdelegates are highly unlikely to switch candidates, and those that do, often support the one that is ahead in both pledged delegates and popular vote.

So while Bernie Sanders’s presidential campaign looks to be nearing its end, his message certainly is not. Senator Sanders’s journey from being the underdog and the unknown to becoming a challenger to one of the most famous political figures of the last half-century is nothing short of remarkable, and his message looks to live on past the 2016 election.

Social Media

Out of all the presidential candidates we’ve seen in 2016, no one has better utilized social media than Senator Sanders. Back in early 2015, Hillary Clinton had a commanding lead when it came to Facebook likes, more than twice as many, and benefited from universal name recognition. Now, not only did Senator Sanders surpass Secretary Clinton in page likes, but he did it twice.  

Amount of Facebook Likes and Engagement of Sanders and Clinton Campaigns (Source: Facebook) 

Not only that, when both pages are taken into consideration, Senator Sanders has an average engagement rate of 19.39%, which is even higher than Donald Trump’s 16.37%.

Facebook Likes by County (Source: FiveThirtyEight) 

In addition to Facebook, Senator Sanders has dominated Twitter as well. Within the first month following his presidential campaign announcement, he increased his Twitter followers at a rate 5 times that of Secretary Clinton’s, 53.81% to 10.84% respectively, and has utilized the social media platform nearly twice as much as Clinton (sending nearly 3,000 more tweets).

Compared to the other candidates, Sanders not only has higher engagement, but more positive media influence. With such well-known figures as Clinton and Trump, networks and social media have no problem playing towards the negatives. Sanders on the other hand, benefited from starting as an unknown and an underdog. A look at any Youtube video would display the enthusiasm that exists online. Videos, interviews, and speeches featuring Bernie Sanders consistently have a like-dislike ratio of 90-10 while those featuring Hillary Clinton, on average, receive a like-dislike ratio closer to 20-80. Sanders not only enjoys higher engagement and stronger social media presence, but seemingly more positive engagement as well.

With this election being the first to see a diverse usage of social media, across race, gender, age, and social class, Sanders’s meteoric rise through social media is not only a monumental political event, but also an indication of what is to come.  

Demographics

While Sanders’s time in this presidential election looks to be coming to a close, what he has accomplished will last much longer. While both Clinton and Trump drew support from older voters, Sanders was powered by a majority of young, passionate, millennials. Sanders has become a household name and you now see him in social media sites dominated by millennials, such as Instagram and Snapchat.

The most important contribution of the Sanders Campaign is the inclusion of the next generation of politicians and leaders. In a study conducted by the Pew Research Center, millennials have overtaken Baby Boomers in terms of population, and will soon become the dominant voice in politics.

Growth of Each Generation (Source: Pew Research Center) 

Not only will millennials be a larger force in future elections, but Generation Y is considerably more liberal than its predecessors. Growing up in a different era and having faced different challenges, it comes to no surprise that the students of today have much more favorable views of liberal social and economic policies. With this being the first election for the millennial generation that features a true progressive, Sanders has not only capitalized on the liberal migration, but has stoked the fires of a growing movement.

Toward the Future

This election has proven to be one that utilizes social media like no election before, and Senator Sanders has led that movement into the future. Because of the growth of social media and the expanding user base, it comes to no surprise that it will continue to grow in future elections.

Never before have we seen a candidate that was treated essentially as the “King of Social Media” and ran a campaign that played more like a growing trend than a traditional presidential bid. With high positive ratings, it seemed that anything Sanders did added to his wave of growing social media popularity.

Bernie Sanders's Pop Culture influence and "Meme-ability"

With new forms of campaigning centered around digital and social media, gone will be the days of phone banking, with new media on the horizon. In addition to the expansion of social media platforms, Senator Sanders has lit the spark to the future of politics within the United States with the incorporation of the next generation of political voices.

Final Thoughts

The 2016 Presidential Election will go down in history for being one of the most chaotic and exciting elections within U.S. politics. While the battle between Clinton and Trump will prove to be a clash of heavyweights, the more important message from this election is a predilection for the future.

Senator Bernie Sanders, rising from the small state of Vermont, became a political figurehead, not of a campaign, but of a movement. With the expansion of social media and its importance in presidential campaigns, future political campaign managers will look back to 2016 as the social media template. Not only that, Sander’s desire to bring in a new generation of voters will greatly change the political dialogue for future elections to come. 

So while his name won’t be on the ballot in November, Senator Sanders’s message and the true future of social media and politics are just beginning to take shape.

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Erwen (Alex) Zhu is an intended Business Major at the University of California Berkeley and writes as a millennial voice for marketing, social media, entertainment, politics, and cultural impact.

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