A question for those interested in the internet and politics…

The Facebook group We got Rage Against the Machine to #1, we can get the Lib Dems into office! continues to grow at a remarkable pace. It is now bigger than the Conservative and Labour Facebook pages combined.

It is also now bigger than the party’s paid-up membership. Thanks to the fallout from that first TV party leaders debate, this looks to be the first time in the UK that a social network presence for a political party has exceeded the party’s own size. Does anyone know otherwise?

One explanation for this is the particular appeal the party has amongst younger voters at the moment. As Anthony Wells points out,

We can be fairly confident in saying that young people have swung the most strongly towards the Liberal Democrats. In both YouGov’s post-debate polls they have had the Lib Dems in the 40s amongst under-35s, compared to the mid-20s prior to the debate, an average increase of 17 points. ComRes have a similar pattern. The Lib Dem boost amongst under 35s seems to be at least twice that amongst all older voters.