We’ve now reached the midpoint of the second month of election campaigning, and at this point all major Canadian party leaders are at the top of their respective social media games.
Amongst all Twitter content either mentioning a federal party or its leader from September 1 to 14, the Prime Minister is leading the way as far as mentions, followed by Trudeau, Mulcair, and finally May:
While PM Harper is leading the way in terms of total Twitter mentions, the old adage of ‘not all news is good news’ rings true here. As the next chart shows, his sentiment numbers are horrible, mostly driven by numerous scandals plaguing the campaign:
This negativity peaked from Sept 3 to 4, much of it in connection with criticisms of the government’s handling of the refugee crisis stemming from the Middle East.
Liberal Leader Justin Trudeau, who had the second-highest percentage of mentions, received mixed reviews: 
Trudeau’s mentions peaked September 9, following his interview with Peter Mansbridge on CBC’s The National. Two trending topics emerged: a negative one about his views on small business, which was picked up by both the Prime Minister and NDP Leader Thomas Mulcair, and a humorous one about the audible sound of Canada Geese during his interview.
NDP Leader Thomas Mulcair, who had the third-highest amount of mentions, had mostly neutral mentions:
Mulcair’s mentions peaked from September 7 to 8, as he took the opportunity to also speak on the refugee crisis (the main driver behind the majority of neutral coverage for Mulcair stemmed from him appearing several times amongst tweets focused on other leaders, mostly Stephen Harper).
Green Party leader Elizabeth May, while receiving the least number of mentions amongst federal party leaders, had the highest percentage of positive mentions:
May received her most mentions on September 9, as she finally unveiled the Green Party’s platform, which unleashed a wave of positive Twitter mentions.
