Thumbs down from Twittersphere

Sixty-two percent of those posting messages on Twitter and Facebook after President Obama’s Monday night speech on Libya had something negative to say, according to an analysis by Crimson Hexagon.

Thirty-three percent had a negative response based on policy, including 20 percent who indicated they disliked the speech because they “desire peace.” Thirteen percent called the administration hypocritical when it came to the Libyan operation. 

{mosads}Some messages captured both views, and opponents weren’t just Republicans. Liberal celebrity activist Michael Moore tweeted that the president “was disingenuous 2say we won’t sit by & watch ppl slaughtered. Oh yes we will. Ask the ppl of Bahrain, Yemen, Syria, Jordan, Palestine.”

Twenty-nine percent of those posting messages commented negatively on Obama in general, rather than on his policy. Wayne St. Amand, senior director of marketing for Crimson Hexagon, described these critics as “people who are anti-President Obama.”

Polls suggest a majority of voters support U.S. action in Libya, though they have shown shallower support than the norm for the beginning of a military campaign. 

According to a Gallup poll taken shortly before the speech, only 22 percent of those surveyed said they think the U.S. should withdraw. 

Crimson Hexagon “listened in” to a representative sample of 24,530 public posts on Twitter and Facebook in the less-than-24-hour period immediately following the speech in order to gather a sense of the public reaction. 

The 37 percent who shared a positive response to the speech were divided between 20 percent who supported the policy shared in the speech and 17 percent who indicated that Obama simply gave a good speech.