The online cult of Ron DeSantis
New Facebook data shows the Florida Gov generates more online interest than any 2024 contender
Over the past nine months, as mainstream media attention slowly shifted away from former President Trump and has focused on the Biden administration’s efforts to combat the COVID pandemic, a new hero has emerged on the right-wing internet to serve as a foil to Biden and fill the batsh*t crazy lane of American politics. We’ll break down who that is, and how Facebook has fueled his rise.
But first…
Cool Job Alert 🚨
Our friends at Rising Tide Interactive are looking for a Director of Client Strategy to lead the day-to-day operations of the Client Strategy department, promote digital innovation and superior client service, and help shape their growing company as a member of senior staff. Salary band: $95,000 - $115,000, benefits include open leave, 100% employer-paid premium medical, 401(k) match, employer-matched student loan repayment program & a WFH stipend. Learn more + apply here.
By the Numbers
Here were the top 10 political ad spenders on Facebook and Instagram last week:
Far-right media outlet Newsmax was one of the top political ad spenders on Facebook nationwide last week, spending over $215,000 on the platform. Many of their ads promote their opinion content attacking President Biden or Democrats, while others are just part of the company’s scammy business model to promote book sales for financial partners.
Pro-Biden independent expenditure group Building Back Together was also in the top 10 spenders nationwide last week, running many different iterations of ads that provide air cover to the President’s Build Back Better agenda. Some of the narratives include supporting lowering prescription drug costs (which several centrist Dems put in jeopardy this week), and investing in home care.
FWIW, here are the numbers for nationwide Google & YouTube spending last week:
As you can see, special and off-year election spending dominated Google advertising last week - with the failed California recall and Virginia gubernatorial election driving the lion’s share of spending on that platform. Other top spenders were groups like Climate Power and American Action Network, which are lobbying for and against the Build Back Better plans in Congress, respectively.
And lastly, here’s year-to-date political ad spending data on Snapchat:
The online cult of Ron DeSantis
Over the past nine months, as mainstream media attention slowly shifted away from former President Trump and has focused on the Biden administration’s efforts to combat the COVID pandemic, a new hero has emerged on the right-wing internet to serve as a foil to Biden and fill the batsh*t crazy lane of American politics.
We’re referring, of course, to Florida Governor Ron DeSantis.
A likely 2024 candidate for President, DeSantis’ embrace of anti-vax conspiracy theories and brash opposition to anything the Biden administration says or does has quickly made him into a conservative media darling. Last month, the Tampa Bay Times published an extensive exposé detailing how FOX News asked the Governor to appear on the network 113 times from November 2020 to February 2021, or nearly once a day. 🤯 Since then, we’ve witnessed the rise of his online personality cult on sites like Facebook, where he is one of the most talked-about politicians in America.
Year to date, no other prospective 2024 Republican candidate for President has received as much engagement on Facebook as Ron DeSantis. With over 122 million interactions (reactions, shares, comments), engagement on posts about the Florida Governor even surpassed those of former Vice President Mike Pence (who is already aggressively fundraising for a White House run).
Compared to other oft-mentioned White House hopefuls like Josh Hawley, Mike Pompeo, and Tom Cotton, it’s not even close.
DeSantis’ newfound Facebook fame has been almost completely propelled by conservative pundit Ben Shapiro. Some of the most viral content on Facebook mentioning DeSantis comes from the right-wing media godfather, with fawning captions like “Best Governor in America” and “DeSantis is awesome.” In fact, 9 out of the top 15 highest performing Facebook posts mentioning DeSantis come from Ben Shapiro’s Facebook page.
Nearly all (48) of the 50 top-performing posts mentioning DeSantis are positive and/or from right-wing accounts. The most Facebook engagement came the week of August 4th, when Facebook users cheered DeSantis’s direct attacks on President Biden’s COVID response during a press conference.
Although most interactions have come from pro-DeSantis posts, not all of the attention has been positive. Undoubtedly, many of the interactions and mentions of DeSantis are from liberals eager to criticize him for his ineptitude in getting the pandemic under control. Like Ted Cruz, he’s become a favorite target of the online Left, with ads and memes vilifying him spreading like wildfire. Democratic Party groups have also started harnessing anti-DeSantis sentiment to rile up their supporters, and it’s apparently been effective:
We know that it is VERY early to take all this attention on DeSantis as some kind of tea-leaf for potential success in a 2024 Republican primary. Remember the last Florida Governor who was a front-runner for the GOP nomination?
However, we’d argue that it is critically important to understand which messengers and messages are resonating with both the conservative media establishment and the grassroots online. From our perspective, it’s undeniable that Ron DeSantis has struck a chord with those groups, and Democrats should be cautious when using a reactionary GOP lightning rod to rile up their own base as well. It can be all too easy to create a media attention feedback loop that only serves to feed the political strength of a crazy Florida man with a low IQ.