A recent report by IMANI, a think tank, has revealed that the National Democratic Congress (NDC) has closed the gap with the governing New Patriotic Party (NPP) in terms of positive sentiment on social media.
According to the report, which analyzed social media data from April 21 to May 17, 2024, the NDC’s positive sentiment rose by 3 percentage points to 14.56%, while the NPP’s positive sentiment fell marginally to 15.17%.
Although the NPP still leads in positive sentiment, the NDC has made significant gains, and the gap between the two parties has narrowed considerably.
The report also revealed that the NDC has a higher social media reach for its posts, with 2 million more engagements than the NPP, despite having fewer mentions.
The NPP still leads in mentions on social media, with 58% of total mentions, while the NDC has 41%.
The report attributed the highest number of spikes in negative sentiment against John Mahama and the NDC to President Nana Akufo-Addo’s public address attacking Candidate John Mahama over the preservation of his legacy.
Candidate Bawumia had more negative mentions regarding the issue of the nurses’ allowance and the government’s inability to pay nurses, as well as his comment on taxing churches.
The report also noted that Candidate Mahama gained some positive mentions for his address on how AI will boost mining.
IMANI’s Pulse report is a fortnightly curated social media-based sentiment analysis designed to follow the “pulse” of Ghanaians in the run-up to the 2024 General Elections.
