‘Feel the Bern’: Activists spearhead Bernie Sanders social push
Bernie Sanders may trail Hillary Clinton by double digits in New Hampshire, but he leads the Democratic front-runner by more than 4,000 “points” on Twitter.
Between June 25 and July 1, the most popular hashtag associated with the Vermont senator’s presidential campaign, “#feelthebern,” was tweeted an average of 6,800 times-a-day, while “#hillary2016” garnered 2,700 tweets, according to Topsy, which tracks activity on social media.
The insurgent candidate’s campaign picked up some momentum over the past week, too. Last Wednesday, Sanders made headlines by drawing 10,000 supporters to a campaign event in Madison, Wisconsin – the largest crowd assembled by any candidate so far this year. The following day, his campaign announced that it had raised $15 million since April 30, and a Quinnipiac poll showed Sanders gaining ground in the early voting state of Iowa.
Still, by the candidate’s own estimation, it would take nothing short of a “political revolution” for Sanders to win the 2016 Democratic primary. Unable to compete with Clinton in fundraising or name recognition, Sanders will need to make social media fervor matter more than it ever has in an American election.
Winnie Wong and Charles Lenchner are spearheading that “revolution.” Veteran political organizers, Wong and Lenchner created the #feelthebern hashtag and co-founded People for Bernie Sanders, a digital platform where the senator’s supporters can network and organize outreach efforts both online and off. Through those efforts, People For Bernie has already enlisted 10,000 campaign volunteers, according to its organizers.
Wong believes that social media will play a greater role in 2016 than it has in any prior election.
“While I enjoy Quinnipiac polls, and watch them closely, I think there’s a huge piece of data that they miss,” Wong told msnbc. “In 2015, we have huge numbers of people taking to the internet to discuss everything. And those conversations will affect the outcome of the 2016 elections.”
To put Sanders at the center of those conversations, People for Bernie works with data analysts to track the success of their hashtags and map the reach of their most influential Twitter supporters.
But behind such technical pursuits is an idealistic faith in the power of social media to expand democratic engagement – faith born of Wong and Lechner’s experiences in New York City’s Zuccotti Park in 2011.
“Many of us are graduates of Occupy Wall Street,” Lenchner told msnbc. “And we feel like there’s an enormous cohort of people that are disillusioned with the limited range of choices in American politics. We’re committed to expanding the number and kinds of people that assert their power within the democratic system.”
“Bernie is taking donations from people and from unions. There’s no bull****. He’s raising money from people, not corporations,” Wong added.
To get a sense of the kind of anti-corporate voter that Wong and Lenchner wish to reach, Google the name “Killer Mike.”
People For Bernie first reached out to the rapper from the popular group Run The Jewels in late May, tweeting to his account, “We hope that you decide to #feeltheBern. Any Q’s feel free to hit us up.”
More here: http://www.msnbc.com/msnbc/feel-the-bern-activists-spearhead-bernie-sanders-social-push
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