KNOXVILLE, Tenn. — The Vice Presidential debate was held Wednesday night, between Vice President Mike Pence and Senator Kamala Harris. Researchers at the University of Tennessee tracked the conversations people had on social media during the debate.
The Adam Brown Social Media Command Center said that most people posted about COVID-19 on Twitter, with 533,000 tweets. Tweets about U.S. and China relations ranked second place, with 181,000 tweets. There were 127,000 posts about a fly on Pence's hair, according to researchers.
People also posted negatively about both Harris and Pence — around 62.2% of posts were negative towards Harris and 60.4% of posts were negative towards Pence, officials said.
Despite conversations staying focused on issues surrounding the debate, posts about the candidates interrupting each other rose around halfway through the debate, according to the center.
The debate started at 9 p.m. Wednesday night, and most people were neutral towards the moderator, Susan Page, at the beginning of the debate, according to officials.
During the debate, the candidates discussed several topics including federal officials' response to COVID-19, economic policies, the Roe v. Wade ruling, climate change and Supreme Court picks.