{"id":107,"date":"2016-02-03T09:38:56","date_gmt":"2016-02-03T14:38:56","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/commons.trincoll.edu\/amst-data-driven\/?p=107"},"modified":"2018-05-30T16:44:12","modified_gmt":"2018-05-30T21:44:12","slug":"collecting-trumptrain","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/commons.trincoll.edu\/amst-data-driven\/2016\/02\/03\/collecting-trumptrain\/","title":{"rendered":"Collecting #TrumpTrain"},"content":{"rendered":"

I am collecting data about the #TrumpTrain hashtag to explore reasons and trends regarding support of Donald Trump in the upcoming 2016 presidential election. \u00a0I expect to see either dramatic increase in usage as campaign success occurs or, simply the opposite.<\/p>\n

When deciding on a hashtag I knew I wanted to focus my attention towards the 2016 presidential election. \u00a0There has been a vast amount of media coverage, especially towards one individual: Donald Trump. \u00a0Personally, I find myself with a lack of understanding regarding the presidential race as well as the candidates’ beliefs and views toward current important issues. Further, I have never found a passion for politics; however, the media coverage and public debate has caught my attention. It is my hope that an investigation of\u00a0#TrumpTrain will open my eyes to this important event and allow me to understand it on a greater level. The presidential election\u00a0is an important event to take a closer look at because it will affect the United States and the world as a whole in the years to come. \u00a0This information will not only be beneficial to me, but anyone interested in finding more about the upcoming race and its confusing nature. \u00a0After watching the recent Iowa Caucus, it became apparent to me that the\u00a0race seems to be extremely close. \u00a0Hopefully this examination of Twitter data will allow a greater understanding of\u00a0the trends America is feeling. \u00a0I chose a hashtag surrounding Donald Trump because of his unorthodox campaign techniques and his extreme media presence. Although he may not be conventional, he is extremely popular. \u00a0I want to find out why.<\/p>\n

To begin, #TrumpTrain is used in support of Donald Trump and his presidential bid. \u00a0It is a symbol of his “unstoppability” regarding momentum, polls, and popularity. \u00a0On the evening of February 3rd, many of the tweets using this tag revolved around Donald Trump’s rally in Little Rock, Arkansas. \u00a0The most common tweet was retweeted several hundred times. Daniel Scavino Jr. (@DanScavino<\/a>), who doubles as Donald Trump’s senior advisor and media platform head, released a tweet seen in Figure 1. \u00a0At the screenshot time (11:41 02.03.16) the tweet had 505 retweets and 836 favorites. \u00a0The tweet and its current standing can be found\u00a0here<\/a>. \u00a0It was obvious that this tweet was being used the most by a large amount of people. \u00a0I was fortunate in that this tweet was both easy to spot due to its emojis\u00a0(?????????)\u00a0and that it was in fact the most popular tweet in recent hours. \u00a0I personally wanted my first data retrieval to be during and\/or after a big event because I knew that there would be many tweets as well as one that was most popular, sent out by Donald Trump or a staffer to be retweeted many times. \u00a0Clearly this was the case. Another realization I arrived at while looking at this data is that this hashtag is made popular by a very small amount of important and well-known individuals. \u00a0I find this to be a fascinating phenomenon that holds true in our everyday lives. We attempt to imitate famous people, and thus, in this specific case, #TrumpTrain becomes a globally trending tag.<\/p>\n

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Figure 1.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n