Ontario parties are having a tough time getting their message out on Twitter, according to a new study released Tuesday by Ipsos Reid for CP24 and CTV.
The study, conducted between May 2 and May 9, shows that although the Liberals were mentioned the most on Twitter (39 per cent), most of the commentary was geared at past Liberal scandals.
The PC party, which controlled 38 per cent of election talk on Twitter, was also plagued by heavy criticism as 59 per cent of posts that mentioned the party were negative.
Hudak’s ‘million jobs plan’ fared particularly poorly on Twitter.
Many of the comments questioned how Hudak’s plan to cut public sector jobs was compatible with the goal of creating jobs.
One Twitter user described the plan as a “million-job fantasy tour” that would “tank” the economy by “firing 100,000 people.”
The NDP, which trailed both parties significantly, garnered only 23 per cent of the Twitter buzz but managed to receive much more balanced commentary. Only 24 per cent of comments surrounding the NDP were negative with 20 per cent positive and 56 per cent neutral.
Although the parties may not have been able to successfully deliver their message to voters, they certainly got people talking.
On average, Canadians engage on Twitter 1.49 times when discussing a public issue, however, engagement around all three parties was significantly higher from May 2 to May 9 (2.42 for NDP, 2.33 for Liberals and 2.28 for Conservatives).
The development shows that Ontario voters appear to be engaged in the election more deeply than they have on past public issues.
The study pulled 45, 745 English language Tweets during the week and of those, a random sample of 300 Tweets per party were used and analyzed for sentiment and content.
