Senate Candidates Count Cyber Friends in Facebook Social Media Campaigns

Senate Candidates Count Cyber Friends in Facebook Social Media Campaigns; Bloomberg

In Florida’s three-way U.S. Senate race, poll numbers aren’t all that is going Marco Rubio’s way. The Republican nominee also has the most “friends.” 

On his Facebook page, Rubio’s 128,800 followers far surpass those for Democratic rival Kendrick Meek and Governor Charlie Crist, who is seeking the Senate seat as an independent. The combined number of Facebook friends for Crist and Meek is about 51,600. 

Rubio, a former state House speaker from Miami backed by Tea Party activists, held a 14-percentage point lead over Crist and a 22-point advantage over Meek in a poll released Oct. 13 by the Quinnipiac University Polling Institute in Hamden, Connecticut. 

Television ads for Rubio urge viewers to sign onto his Facebook page, and aides see a connection between the candidate’s standing in the polls and the campaign’s use of social media. 

Read the rest of the Bloomberg article here.