‘Anger’ topped ‘love’ when Facebook users reacted to lawmakers’ posts after 2016 election
The U.S. congressional Facebook audience used the “angry” button in response to lawmakers’ posts nearly 14 million times following the 2016 election.
Numbers, Facts and Trends Shaping Your World
Patrick van Kessel
Former Senior Data Scientist
Patrick van Kessel is a senior data scientist at Pew Research Center, specializing in computational social science research and methodology. He is the author of studies that have used natural language processing and machine learning to measure negative political discourse and news sharing behavior by members of Congress on social media, and is involved in the ongoing development of best practices for the application of data science methods across the Center. Van Kessel received his master’s degree in social science from the University of Chicago, where he focused on open-ended survey research and text analytics. He holds bachelor’s degrees in economics and political science from the University of Texas at Austin. Prior to joining Pew Research Center, he worked at NORC at the University of Chicago as a data scientist and technical advisor on a variety of research projects related to health, criminal justice and education.
Publications
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There’s a large gender gap in congressional Facebook posts about sexual misconduct
About seven-in-ten women in Congress mentioned sexual misconduct in their official Facebook posts between Oct. 1 and Dec. 30, 2017, compared with 37% of men in Congress.
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Very liberal or conservative legislators most likely to share news on Facebook
The most ideological members of Congress shared news stories on their Facebook pages more than twice as often as moderate legislators between Jan. 2, 2015, and July 20, 2017, according to a new Pew Research Center study that examined all official Facebook posts created by members of Congress in this period. The analysis included links […]
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As more money flows into campaigns, Americans worry about its influence
There’s more money in the political system than at any time since the reforms of the 1970s, a trend that concerns most Americans regardless of party or ideology.
