Presidential candidates succeed on Twitter with sass, pop culture, and youth appeal

It turns out that if you're a presidential candidate and you want to go far on Twitter, you'll have to get a tad irreverent and get the kids talking.

Analyzing the tweets of the mainstream candidates since their respective campaign announcements, we found that displays of panache, pop culture savvy, and even a little sass seem to go far.

The most-popular tweets reflect both the image that candidates want to project and the messaging their supporters respond to most. 

That being said, sass and pop culture seem to be solid bets for any candidate.

For instance, since the announcement of her presidential bid, Hillary Clinton has had the most retweets and favorites with a tweet referencing the British boy band, One Direction:

As in his offline campaign, Trump gets a lot of attention when he is calling out public figures and institutions like President Obama or Fox News.

Carson's biggest tweets tout his faith. Carson sought spiritual guidance before the first and second debates. His most popular tweet yet doesn't break the mold:

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