Sign in. It’s quick, free and it’s up to you.
An account is an optional way to support the work we do. Find out more.
BARACK OBAMA WILL personally tweet from his Twitter account as the campaign for his re-election next year hots up.
Up until now the Twitter and Facebook accounts of the 44th US president were managed by his 2008 election campaign staff and then White House staff but ahead of next year’s election, staff at the Obama 2012 headquarters are to take over @BarackObama, which has some 8.6million followers, and the president’s Facebook page
Obama himself will be personally tweeting with messages from him signed off “-BO.”
In recent years, Obama’s Twitter account has been used to tweet news of his activities but has been managed by his communications team at the White House.
The reason for the change according to the campaign, is “to make the most of these channels, using them not only to report what the President is doing every day but to connect to the millions of supporters who will be driving this campaign.”
Tech Crunch reports that the upcoming US presidential election is likely to be about Twitter which has more mass appeal than it did four years ago when the election was very much centred on Facebook.
Opposition Republican candidates are already clashing on the Twittersphere with Tim Pawlenty hitting back at fellow Republican nominee hopeful Mitt Romney, according to the LA Times. It follows the pair’s clash over healthcare at a Republican primary debate on Monday.
To embed this post, copy the code below on your site
I don’t trust media-produced opinion or exit polls. They tend to carry something of a bias toward outcomes that the media themselves would like to see, such as the utterly contrived “green wave” that the monolithic, group-thinking Irish media have been salivating and manipulating about since the first exit poll was produced last Friday.
In reality, the vast majority of the Irish electorate did not vote for the Green Party in the 2019 Local and European Elections. The vast majority of voters voted for either Fianna Fail, Fine Gael or Independent candidates.
Media-produced opinion and exit polls tend to exaggerate scenarios that the media would be ideologically in favour of, and they downplay scenarios that the media would be less in favour of. Like most voters, I have never once been asked to contribute to an exit poll. Nor have I ever been asked to contribute to an opinion poll between elections.
@J. Reid: I think the main reason the exit polls predicted a green surge is that green voters vote later in the day and when you tip the box upside down their votes are at the top distorting the exit poll. But why do they vote later? Root cause analysis suggests they may not work 9 to 5 jobs as their principles restrict where they can work but further analysis suggests that those that do work, cycle to workplace and take longer to get there, get changed out if hi vis soaked lycra and thus leave work later, this voting later. Also the green voter will not waste paper by voting if they the know the seat is in the bag thus they wait and surge later. Once the box tips upside down you have the LIFO principles at play that media run with. QED.
@Chewey Bacca: ;)
@J. Reid: Agree 100%.
@Hatchjaw: the exit poll is done prior to boxes being opened i.e. pollsters on the ground all day grabing people as they ahem; exit
@J. Reid: I’m not saying it doesn’t happen, I’m just wondering what ‘the media’ would get out of distorting this information? They’d only have between polling and counting to enjoy their fabrication; no time to influence anything and a hit to their reputation when it becomes apparent they reported the wrong result. Seems very short-sighted.
@iohanx: So Red C wandered down to some South Dublin polling station, asked random hipsters how they voted and put it out as a national trend?
@J. Reid: That is very Trumpian attacking the media. This poll is not a media poll. They do multiple polling research, on a myriad of topics/products etc.
It appears that you and others are unawares to your mistake, as it appears to be an easy mistake to make.
A media produced poll is similar to the following
https://www.thejournal.ie/poll-does-the-price-of-sunscreen-influence-your-usage-4657168-May2019/
@J. Reid: wrong in so many ways.
@Chewey Bacca: LOL. So you get paid to write this crap?
So what we have learned is to not believe what we are told in the polls pre or post voting time
At the end of the day its an exit poll. Who cares. Its the actaul results that matter. Media frenzie comes to mind.
Polls are useful to keep the status quo going, they create voter apathy. People are told constantly that either FG or FF are going to win , so they don’t bother voting which helps keep the big parties in power.
Opinion and exit polls for all their claims to scientific accuracy and reliability are susceptible to one thing that can render them worthless and that’s human nature. Sometime people just don’t tell the truth…
The thing I don’t trust about the explanation is that if the numbers had gone the other way an equally valid explanation would have been provided. When science meets people things get messy.
Polls are used by media to maintain status quo.. Always has and always will..
@Willy: If I follow your logic Willy, you reckon there is a conspiracy by the polling companies to influence people to vote for SF by consistently showing their numbers as much higher than they actually are. The scoundrels. Thankfully the people didn’t fall for it.
The only thing the Poll has done is give Leo and Simon a few quotes to weasel around and unexpected representation for the greens. That has trown up two things, Saoirse McHugh, likely to stay un-elected but has shown her morale backbone whith her FF/FG statement, which do her self no harm next time around as an independent if that be her decision. While the greens leadership show, they are only too keen to to jump into junior government partnership again. Very good to know that about them.
Polls have been proven to be inaccurate many times now so most people don’t pay any attention to them apart from the media who need to fill out their news output with something. Like on a quiet news week, you will get a Sunday newspaper revealing the entirely predictable results of some poll
Varadkar out! The party of spin , lies, deceit and ineptitude out! They think not sinking the economy again is enough for them to retain power. You can disagree and send them packing!!!! Send the rats scurrying come election time. Fool me once ….
@Shane Murphy: the economy isn’t sinking, its the fastest growing in Europe
@Virgil: Heard that before, before the Celtic Tiger Crash, which was fueled by a housing shortage too
@Virgil: Stagnating at the moment, number of jobs advertised has dropped since the beginning of the year. Brexit will trigger downturn here, lack of government preparation for Brexit will make it worse
@Virgil: Means f–all if it only benifits the few.
Just a waste of time and money
The only Exit that matters is the Sf Exit
@pat seery: ??
We have no Green party representation on Sligo County council..I think if they had put up a candidate they would have got a seat after seen what happened around the country.
@Marty from Sligo: eh, there was a green candidate.
Where do they get their ‘margin of error’ from? They should just say this could be totally wrong, we just don’t now. We think it’s a ball park figure
@Virgil: That should be RTE’s Motto !
Morto for them and their Poll Guessers !
Media demanding on radio the minister to introduce carbon tax as if the entire country voted green. If Aontu had recieved the same share of the vote would they demand a new referendum on abortion. No the wouldn’t. Most of the media in this country are biased which is a very dangerous thing.
have your say