Stars like John Legend, Fergie and Stephen Colbert are urging their young social media followers to get to the polls, but the renegade Frank Underwood Twitter feed (@frank_underwood) was getting among the most retweets of any election related news early on Tuesday.
According to online analysis firm Zignal Labs, a Tweet sent from @frank_underwood, which is not affiliated with “House of Cards” or Netflix, was getting more retweets than any other election related news. “Don’t vote. It’s much more fun to call talk radio shows and foam at the mouth about how no one listens to people like you. #ElectionDay.” As of Tuesday afternoon, it had gotten 688 retweets.
Don't vote. It's so much more fun to call talk radio shows and foam at the mouth about how no one listens to people like you. #ElectionDay
— Frank Underwood (@Frank_Underwood) November 4, 2014
It’s satire, but the tone reflects what early exit polls were picking up across the country: A pessimistic electorate.
Later in the day, Colbert’s pleas to GoVote had surpassed 1,000 retweets, including one with the message, “#GoVote because the only Voter ID you need is YOU! (And also a Voter ID in a lot of places.)”
And one of the top trending stories was that of Lil Jon, who said that he was flying this morning from Los Angeles to Georgia to cast his ballot after he never received an absentee.
The get-out-the-vote push from Headcount.org is aimed at defying expectations of youth vote turnout given the mood of voters and that it is a midterm election year. The stars engaged in its campaign, which also includes Conan O’Brien, T.I., Jack Johnson, Jeff Tweedy and Dave Matthews, are taking photos with artwork that says “#GoVote” and posting on social media accounts.
During the campaign, some of the most widely circulated Tweets in Georgia and Iowa came from Donald Trump, according to Zignal Labs, as he attacked Georgia Senate candidate Michelle Nunn as “an Obama liberal” and First Lady Michelle Obama for mispronouncing the name of the Democrat running in that state, Bruce Braley.
The analysis firm also reported that in California, the most talked about ballot measure on social media last week was Proposition 47, a measure to reduce sentences for some crimes. The spike in mentions came after Legend wrote a Huffington Post piece in favor of the initiative and tweeted it to his followers.
