For the second straight week, Bernie Sanders has hit the high watermark for online attention in the Democratic primary, according to data from NewsWhip provided exclusively to Axios.
Why it matters: It's not just quantity. The sentiment of the top stories about Sanders has been more positive than his top Democratic rivals — particularly Michael Bloomberg, whose recent online attention has been overwhelmingly negative.
By the numbers: Stories about Sanders generated 24 million interactions (likes, comments, shares) on social media last week — up from last week's 19.5 million, which was the previous high in the primary.
Yes, but: While Sanders has soared to new heights in the Democratic primary, his numbers still don't come close to Trump, who generated 64 million interactions last week — which wasn't particularly newsy by Trump standards.
Between the lines: While the top story about Sanders was the Washington Post's report that he was briefed that Russia was working to support his campaign, the next 13 biggest stories reflected positively on Sanders. They include:
- Five pieces touting Sanders' success following the Nevada caucuses.
- Three pieces math-checking a viral right-wing post that incorrectly represented his proposed tax rates.
- Two items hawking Sanders' support from celebrities over 70 — Neil Young and Dick Van Dyke.
Bloomberg has also seen his interaction numbers skyrocket, quadrupling since the beginning of the month — but the sentiment has been overwhelmingly negative.
- Whereas 13 of Bernie's 15 biggest stories reflected positively, 13 of the 15 biggest Bloomberg stories reflected negatively. Many of them centered on comments Bloomberg made in the past — both from right-wing publishers and from liberal media outlets.
Our 2020 attention tracker is based on data from NewsWhip exclusively provided to Axios as part of a project that will regularly update throughout the 2020 campaign.
