Taxes, marijuana top issues on Facebook ahead of midterms

Potential voters on Facebook were talking taxes, marijuana and ObamaCare in the greatest numbers ahead of Election Day, according to the company. 

Facebook ranked those issues as the top three election-related topics that users in the United States were talking about on Monday. Education and the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria (ISIS) were also in the top five. 

{mosads}In most major polling, the economy has ranked highest on the list of issues voters care about. 

The majority in the Senate is up for grabs in Tuesday’s election; Republicans would need to net six seats to win back control of the upper chamber. 

Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.), however, is the only Senate candidate who made the top-10 list of most talked about candidates on Facebook. He ranked fifth, behind Florida Gov. Rick Scott (R), House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) and Rep. Trey Gowdy (R-S.C.).

A number of technology companies have looked to push users to the polls with reminders on their sites. Facebook is displaying an “I’m a voter” button at the top of users’ news feeds to remind them to vote. The company also created a heat map to track which parts of the country are self-reporting. 

Since early July, Facebook said 28 million people have made 284 million interactions about the elections. Conversations are taking place with the largest volume in big states like California, Texas, Florida, Georgia and Ohio. 

However, Maine, Alaska, Wisconsin, the District of Columbia, and Kentucky have been the most active in terms of percentage of Facebook users. Arkansas, Oklahoma, West Virginia, Iowa and New Hampshire round out the top 10.