Confidence in Brexit deal plummets as Twitter users lose faith in May

Public confidence in Theresa May’s handling of Brexit has plummeted in the last six months, an analysis of social media has shown.

The Prime Minister’s popularity dropped by half between June and December, while anger towards her doubled over the same period.

The study of emotional reactions to Mrs May on Twitter was conducted by data scientists in Belfast.

The experts from Queen’s University-based analytics firm Adoreboard used algorithms to translate different types of emotions into an indexed rating system.

The rating score factors in feelings expressed in tweets such as joy, surprise, trust, anger, disgust, fear and sadness.

According to the study, Mrs May’s rating in June was 42, but by Christmas it had dropped to 20.

The level of anger recorded on Twitter rose from nine to 18 over those six months. Trust over the same period decreased from 35 to 30.

The study involved the analysis of almost 70,000 tweets posted between 23 June and 26 December in connection with the Prime Minister’s dealings with Brexit. Her lowest score came as negotiations stumbled in November.