Sanders makes Rubio-sized waves on Facebook

Sen. Bernie Sanders might face tough odds in his bid for the White House, but he’s still striking a nerve on social media.

The reaction on Facebook to the Vermont Independent’s Thursday campaign announcement was more muted than the outpouring of discussion for former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton — the Democratic front-runner — but was, nonetheless, comparable to the chatter after Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.) announced his bid for president.

{mosads}In all, Facebook saw 1.2 million likes, posts, comments and other interactions about Sanders on Thursday, generated by 592,000 people.

That’s pretty close to the reaction Rubio got last month, when 695,000 people generated 1.3 million interactions.

Still, compared to Clinton, Sanders has a long way to go. The former senator and first lady generated 10.1 million interactions from 4.7 million people on the day she announced her bid for the White House.

The numbers indicate the high hurdles for Sanders, who identifies as a democratic socialist, yet show that the public is not completely overlooking him. As the first declared opponent to Clinton in the race for the Democratic nomination, Sanders is positioning himself as her liberal foil and is sure to have some affect on the outcome of the race. 

Judging from the early reaction on Facebook, he’s not being ignored.

Sanders’s message might be especially relevant in New Hampshire, the traditional first primary state, which borders his home state of Vermont.

While people in Vermont were most actively talking about Sanders on Facebook over the last 90 days, New Hampshire was No. 2, according to the social media giant.

The top issue connected with Sanders was employment, followed by economic equality and money in politics.