The Roll Up: August 26, 2025 

TL;DR:  California governor Gavin Newsom has unleased a relentless attack on Donald Trump on social media, taking a much more aggressive stance than other Democratic Party leaders. While much traffic on social media about Newsom is negative, he's dwarfing his potential Democratic rivals and easily winning the name recognition race. Here's how we know:

Democrats have routinely decried their party leadership for taking a too-soft approach to criticizing Donald Trump and his administration for policies they find repugnant. California governor Gavin Newsom has separated himself from his fellow Democrats--as well as the other likely 2028 presidential candidates--with a social media campaign that mocks Trump by using his all-caps approach to boastful social media posts and sharing AI images of Newsom as hero, spiritual figure and king--each again parodies of posts Trump himself has made.

Social Media Front-Runner

Newsom's social media blitz has certainly stirred a great deal of engagement across several platforms. Rolli IQ analysis over just the past week shows the provocative nature of his posts and their subsequent traditional media coverage has churned through the internet at a rate so far ahead of his potential rivals that it's almost embarrassing.  

Compare that engagement rate to four other top contenders for the Democratic nomination in 2028 and the pattern is clear. Newsom's aggressive stance was made for social media sharing, commenting and, in fact, hating. Rolli IQ analysis shows even perennial firebrand Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez pales in comparison with her engagement numbers.

No Such Thing as Bad Publicity?

Newsom's approach has not been taken positively by many social media users. While that is to be expected from Twitter/X as a platform that leans right, as Rolli IQ analysis shows, Newsom is getting mixed sentiment across other platforms, too, with the negative sentiment perhaps due to his stand on trans rights or his involvement with right wing figures on his podcast that irritates potential supporters on the left. 

Few are neutral on Newsom at this point, with the Rolli IQ Sentiment Map showing strong negative and positive sentiments toward Newsom across Twitter/X, Reddit, YouTube and Bluesky, but fewer neutral sentiments. 

Variety is the Spice of...Political Life
Newsom's success garnering social media engagement comes from an interesting swath of differing opinions. Rolli IQ analysis shows the top spreader on Twitter/X isn't a conservative or right-leaning account, but the Governor Newsom Press Office account itself--the social media wizards behind his controversial posts. This high ranking is a tribute to their engagement skills.

On the left-leaning alternative to Twitter/X, Bluesky, one of the top spreaders is progressive media site Meidas Touch, a content creator in its own right and a frequent re-poster from other liberal accounts.

Just as Donald Trump did so effectively in 2016, Newsom's approach has garnered the attention of the traditional media, as seen from the one of the top YouTube spreaders, CNN.

Finally, on Reddit, perhaps the largest spreader isn't a political subreddit at all, but one that features sharp and clever verbal sparring and takedowns. The accumulating volume of Newsom posts skewering Donald Trump has attracted the attention of those who enjoy verbal fencing and subscribe to the r/MurderedByWords subreddit.

The bottom line is that the analysis using Rolli IQ to compare potential Democratic presidential candidates shows Gavin Newsom far in the lead in gathering social media engagement, as well as showing his reach across a wide variety of accounts and subject matter areas online.