Boehner: GOP dominates on Twitter

House Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) on Monday touted the fact that Republicans rank consistently higher than Democrats in their social media influence according to a new survey of members of Congress on Twitter.

According to Edelman’s research, Republicans outperformed — or, as Boehner put it, “dominated” — Democrats on all success metrics studied by the public relations firm.

Please RT: new report from @EdelmanDC shows House #GOP dominates on @Twitter bit.ly/GQXLDs #techgop

— Speaker John Boehner (@SpeakerBoehner) March 26, 2012

The survey ranked members of Congress tweeting from their official government accounts on a 16-point “influence” metric that includes engagement (number of replies by followers), popularity and trust. Republicans, who use Twitter more overall than Democrats, nearly swept the top 10 in multiple categories, ranking high in overall scores as well as individual categories.

Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) ranked at the top of the overall most influential list, followed by Boehner in second place. Republicans took eight of the top 10 spots on the list for most influence on Twitter. Other names on the list, starting from third place, include Reps. Darrel Issa (Calif.), Sen. John McCain (Ariz.), Reps. Eric Cantor (Va.), Bob Latta (Ohio) and Cathy McMorris Rodgers (Wash.), Democratic Rep. Keith Ellison (Minn.) in eighth place, and Republican Reps. Kenny Marchant (Texas) and Jason Chaffetz (Utah).

Boehner also used the report to publicize the GOP’s Twitter hashtag, #HCRcostsjobs, meant for use this week as the Supreme Court weighs the constitutionality of the Affordable Care Act.

Sanders touted his spot on the list of influential tweeters over the weekend. Sanders ranked at the top for both most influence and highest engagement, according to the firm’s research. He posted a thank you to all his social media followers on his Twitter and Facebook accounts.

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