CHICAGO — Gov. Pat Quinn and his Republican challenger, Bruce Rauner, are neck and neck in the polls, but on Facebook, it's not even close.
It's Rauner in a landslide.
Facebook crunched the number of likes for each candidate's campaign page - or if a candidate has no campaign page, their regular profile - and found Rauner with a commmanding lead over the incumbent Quinn: nearly 44,000 likes for Rauner versus a bit more than 18,000 for Quinn.
And that's not all: According to Facebook, more than 11,000 people are "talking" about Rauner, and just over 1,000 for Quinn.
It's not a perfect science, a Facebook policy analyst told the Wichita Eagle, which looked at the Kansas governor's race.
“It shows you the number of people who are engaged with that candidate that are having conversations about that candidate on Facebook," said Andy Stone. "They’re taking an additional step beyond just liking that page to actually converse about him.”
Still, in the 2010 midterm elections, Facebook users' likes correctly predicted 74 percent of the races.
The governor's race isn't the only one people are talking about on Facebook.
In the race for Senate, incumbent Democrat Sen. Dick Durbin leads challenger state Sen. Jim Oberweis (R-Sugar Grove), nearly 40,000 likes to 16,000.
Rep. Bobby Rush (D-1st) is leading his opponent, Jimmie Lee Tillman, 17,000 to 359.
Rep. Robin Kelly's (D-2nd) opponent, Eric Wallace, has no Facebook page. Nor does 6th District Rep. Danny Davis' opponent, Robert Bumpers.
In the 3rd District, Democrat Dan Lipinski has nearly 3,000 likes to Sharon Brannigan's 1,400.
Rep. Luis Gutierrez (D-4th) has a commanding lead over Hector Concepcion: 211,400 to 194.
Rep. Mike Quigley's (D-5th) page has more than 8,200 likes. His campaign page, however, has fewer likes than his Republican opponent, Vince Kolber. Kolber has 132 to Quigley's 123. Their Green Party opponent, Nancy Wade? She's got 408 likes.
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