Puerto Rico, Coronavirus Among Top Latino Twitter Topics During 2020 Election
New GW study finds freedom and socialism were also major themes among Spanish-speaking Twitter users
Newswise WASHINGTON, April 13, 2021 – Latinos discussed Puerto Rico and the COVID-19 pandemic more than any other subject on Twitter in the run-up to the 2020 election, according to researchers at the George Washington University. Spanish-language tweets mentioning “freedom” and “socialism” were also popular, while topics such as Obamacare and immigration did not gain much traction.
A team of researchers at GW’s Graduate School of Political Management (GSPM) analyzed election-related Twitter posts written in Spanish by American users as part of the school’s Public Echoes of Rhetoric in America (PEORIA) Project. The team examined tweets mentioning then-President Donald Trump or Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden that were posted between September 7 and November 3, 2020. Their effort