Democratic presidential front-runner Hillary Clinton has far more fake Twitter followers than any other Democrat or Republican presidential candidate, according to a recent audit reported on by the Washington Examiner.
Just 59 percent of Clinton's approximate 4.5 million followers are actually real people, with the other 41 percent, or more than 1,800,000, being computer bots and troll Twitter followers.
The audit was conducted by the site TwitterAudit, which takes a random sample of a person's followers and uses various metrics to determine what percentage are likely real or fake.
Practically all Twitter accounts have at least some fake followers, but politicians in particular are known for buying followers in order to appear more popular on social media than they actually are. Fake followers are often incapable of retweeting or favoriting posts and exist solely for public image purposes.
Clinton's closest Democratic presidential rival, Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders, has the highest percentage of authentic followers of any major candidate running for the White House, according to the audit, which shows that only 11 percent of Sanders' 816,000 followers are considered fake and 89 percent are likely real.
Sanders' huge percentage of real followers partially explains why he edged out Clinton in social media mentions during and after the first Democratic debate of the 2016 race. Sanders captured 41 percent of the "debate conversation," compared to Clinton's 39 percent, according to Yahoo!
Republican contender and New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie had the most fake followers among Republican candidates and the highest percentage of fake followers of any presidential contender. The audit found that 57 percent of Christie's followers are fake, while 43 percent are real.
Real estate magnate Donald Trump has 36 percent fake followers and 64 percent authentic, while Florida Sen. Marco Rubio has 26 percent fake and 74 percent real. Seventy-five percent of Texas Sen. Ted Cruz's followers are real, as are 76 percent of followers of retired neurosurgeon Ben Carson.
