--- title: Democratic Debate: Here's Who Won Social Media description: Here's who had the biggest Facebook post, tweet and Instagram of the night. canonical: https://time.com/4073082/democratic-debate-social-media-2/ author: Tessa Berenson article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2015-10-14T15:02:42.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-08-19T07:47:00.608Z article:section: Politics og:title: Here's Who Won Social Media During the Democratic Debate og:description: One of the winners wasn't even on the stage. og:url: https://time.com/4073082/democratic-debate-social-media-2/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt1658752c64203dce/6988682bbc6cfc25f73d9e68/04976752.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 4096 og:image:height: 2304 og:image:alt: US Democratic Presidential debate at Wynn Las Vegas og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Here's Who Won Social Media During the Democratic Debate twitter:description: One of the winners wasn't even on the stage. twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt1658752c64203dce/6988682bbc6cfc25f73d9e68/04976752.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Here's Who Won Social Media During the Democratic Debate > Sponsored content. 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It explains the politics, personalities and power dynamics behind the headlines, twice a week. #### Where can I get analysis of Washington politics by email? D.C. Brief is TIME's free Washington politics newsletter, available at time.com/newsletters. It is written by a TIME senior correspondent who covers the capital full time. #### Who writes TIME's D.C. Brief? Philip Elliott, a senior correspondent at TIME, writes D.C. Brief. #### Is D.C. Brief free? Yes. D.C. Brief is free at time.com/newsletters. ### Sources * TIME Newsletters: [time.com/newsletters](/c/time-nl-dcbrief-2026q3/newsletters?i=e8d8b3d9-cd0d-4231-b02c-5b08034a1341&cr=time-nl-dcbrief-2026q3-v1)  by [Tessa Berenson](https://time.com/author/tessa-berenson/)  ## Tessa Berenson Oct 14, 2015 3:02 PM UTC  Jim Webb, Bernie Sanders, Hillary Clinton, Martin O'Malley and Lincoln Chafee pose on stage prior to the start of the Democratic debate at Wynn Las Vegas in Las Vegas, Nevada, on Oct. 13, 2015. Jim Webb, Bernie Sanders, Hillary Clinton, Martin O'Malley and Lincoln Chafee pose on stage prior to the start of the Democratic debate at Wynn Las Vegas in Las Vegas, Nevada, on Oct. 13, 2015. Mike Nelson—EPA  by [Tessa Berenson](https://time.com/author/tessa-berenson/)  ## Tessa Berenson Oct 14, 2015 3:02 PM UTC After presidential debates, there’s always talk of who “won” the night. Who had the best zingers? Who laid out their policy positions the best? Who made the best joke? But there’s another way to judge the winner: social media. These metrics sound less interesting but are far less subjective: Who gained the most Facebook followers? And whose Twitter got the most action? Who did people search on Google? According to a report from CrowdTangle, one candidate who emerged on top across a variety of online categories wasn’t even on the stage. Republican frontrunner Donald Trump [live-tweeted the entire debate](http://time.com/4072643/trump-democratic-debate/?xid=tcoshare), making him the winner for both the biggest [Facebook post](https://www.facebook.com/DonaldTrump/posts/10156213015775725) and tweet of the night: > [](https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/status/654118384121065473) **Read More:** [_Hillary Clinton Leads All Candidates in YouTube Views_](http://time.com/4072098/hillary-clinton-youtube-ads/?xid=tcoshare) But just focusing on the Democratic candidates, Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders did the best online. Former Secretary of State Clinton made the best Instagram of the night, which she posted of her podium before the debate even began: Vermont Sen. Sanders gained the most Facebook followers by far (including Trump and the other Republicans), garnering more than 35,000 new Likes to his page. Next up was Clinton, who got over 18,000 new followers. And Sanders also was also the top-searched candidate on Google during the debate, according to data provided by the search engine, followed by Clinton, former Virginia Sen. Jim Webb, former Maryland Gov. Martin O’Malley, and finally former Rhode Island Gov. Lincoln Chafee. **Read Next:** [_What You Missed While Not Watching the First Democratic Debate_](http://time.com/4072829/democratic-debate-what-you-missed/?xid=tcoshare) ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4073082/democratic-debate-social-media-2/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4073082/democratic-debate-social-media-2/"},"headline":"Here's Who Won Social Media During the Democratic Debate","datePublished":"2015-10-14T15:02:42.000Z","dateModified":"2026-08-19T07:47:00.608Z","description":"The data is often the best pundit","url":"https://time.com/4073082/democratic-debate-social-media-2/","keywords":["2016 Election","Hillary Clinton","2016 Election","Bernie Sanders","Democratic debate"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt1658752c64203dce/6988682bbc6cfc25f73d9e68/04976752.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Tessa Berenson","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/tessa-berenson/"}],"articleSection":"Politics","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt1658752c64203dce/6988682bbc6cfc25f73d9e68/04976752.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"US Democratic Presidential debate at Wynn Las Vegas","caption":"US Democratic Presidential debate at Wynn Las Vegas","creditText":"Mike Nelson—EPA","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/politics/","name":"Politics"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/2016-election/","name":"2016 Election"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/4073082/democratic-debate-social-media-2/","name":"Here's Who Won Social Media During the Democratic Debate"}}]}] ```