IA-SEN: Social Media Analysis Finds Iowans Souring On Ernst

[RandySF]

A Democratic advocacy group founded by former Sens. Heidi Heitkamp of North Dakota and Joe Donnelly of Indiana is zeroing in on Sen. Joni Ernst’s first reelection race in an effort to engage rural Iowans to vote against the incumbent Republican. A new social media analysis from One Country Fund shows an opening with rural Iowans is developing.

Prepared by Impact Social, the report collected publicly available online data, geo-located to rural populations in Iowa, between July 16 and Aug. 6. Of the 11,000 posts from 2,000 unique authors, the report deemed 52% of posts about Ernst to be negative.

“There is a common thread which runs through the majority of this discussion: Sen. Joni Ernst stands with President Trump and not with Iowans,” the report states. “She is more interested in herself and politics than doing what is right for the people.”

Fifteen percent of posts lamented Ernst is “too close to Trump,” while 11% disagreed with her stance on the economy, jobs and the trade war. Ernst’s negative comments late in July about Theresa Greenfield’s dog Ringo drove 10% of Iowans’ negative posts. Corruption comprised 8%; health care, 8%; COVID-19, 8%; “Doesn’t stand for Iowa,” 7%; and Russian bounties on American troops, 7%.

One Country Fund and its Democratic organizers believe Ernst’s affinity for President Trump could lead to her undoing, given only 42% of Americans support the job he has done as president. Despite carrying Iowa by 9 points in 2016, a June Des Moines Register/Mediacom Iowa Poll showed Trump leading Joe Biden by only 1 point. Ernst in that poll trailed Greenfield, her Democratic opponent, by 3 points.



https://iowastartingline.com/2020/08/30/report-social-media-analysis-finds-iowans-souring-on-ernst/

[ProudMNDemocrat]

1. There is hope in Iowa...

Ernst has done NOTHING for the state of Iowa other than kiss Trump's ass.

[madaboutharry]

2. She got sucked into the Trump vortex.

I think at one time she was a typical republican from a farm community with typical republican ideas. Something happened to her. The excitement of being a Senator, the taste of power that comes with it, and proximity to Washington power and meetings at The White House can intoxicate some people causing them to lose all perspective. Ernst on a good day is a vapid idiot. It did not take long for her, in the absence of critical thinking skills, to fall into Trumpism. She never cared about his behavior. She has said as much herself. She said it was about policy. Well, now after her little speech at the RNC, filmed while wearing a plaid shirt standing next to a bale of hay (lol), she is married to Trumpism and all it stands for. Iowans deserve better than a Trump cult member representing them.