Political Popularity Analysis in Social Media

Abstract: Popularity is a critical success factor for a politician and her/his party to win in elections and implement their plans. Finding the reasons behind the popularity can provide a stable political movement. This research attempts to measure popularity in Twitter using a mixed method. In recent years, Twitter data has provided an excellent opportunity for exploring public opinions by analyzing a large number of tweets. This study has collected and examined 4.5 million tweets related to a US politician, Senator Bernie Sanders. This study investigated eight economic reasons behind the senator's popularity in Twitter. This research has benefits for politicians, informatics experts, and policymakers to explore public opinion. The collected data will also be available for further investigation.