British people back Clinton but talk more about Trump online

Britain prides itself on having a "special relationship" with the US and its citizens are backing Hillary Clinton to be the next president on social media.

However, five days before voting ends on 8 November a new analysis of what the British are saying about the Democrat and her Republican rival Donald Trump shows they are unimpressed with both candidates.

"Our data demonstrates the bitter taste that the US presidential election has left in the mouths of social media users in the UK," said Marcus Gault, a director of social media research at Kantar Media, a company that analyses media consumption.

The US election has been a major topic for British social media users. Since the first presidential debate at the end of September Brits have posted comments about the election more than 700,000 times on Twitter, blogs and forums.

Two-thirds of the posts are from detractors of the candidates, leading to a largely negative feeling online. "Groups of people are supporting a candidate as controversial as Trump because they dislike the alternative," said Gault, "it's a clear symptom of disillusionment across electorates."

Posts about Trump made up about 81% of the posts, but more than half were from people that disliked him. He also attracted a lot of interest on search engines, where British users Googled information about Trump 142% more than Clinton throughout September.

Scandals around Trump have fuelled the interest in the billionaire, Kantar Media's data show. The Access Hollywood video of Trump talking about forcing himself on women generated 30,000 posts. This was twice the number that renewed FBI scrutiny of Clinton's emails sparked after Friday 28 October.

Trump has not only drawn criticism from the general public in the UK. Former prime minister David Cameron — a Conservative — called Trump's stance on banning Muslims from the US "divisive, stupid and wrong".

Trump also said that he would not forgive London's Mayor Sadiq Khan for calling him "ignorant" and challenged Khan to take an IQ test.

However, allies like Nigel Farage, the former leader of the UK Independence Party that helped drive the leave vote in the Brexit referendum, have embraced Trump.

Farage has appeared at Trump campaign rallies and as a commentator during the Republican National Convention. When the scandal around Trump's sexual comments about women emerged in October he dismissed it as "alpha male boasting". Farage has added that he will join Trump in the White House if the Republican wins.

Nevertheless, Trump's "courting controversy to win popular support and column inches can be a double-edged sword," said Gault.

"The very force he capitalised on to secure the Republican nomination has ensured catastrophes in his campaign have spread at lightning speed," he said, "potentially overshadowing obstacles in his rival's bid for the White House."