• by Laurie Sullivan  @lauriesullivan, June 13, 2011

While President Barack Obama's re-election hopes may hinge on the fate of the nation's struggling economy, his health-care overhaul generated the sharpest opposition in an online ad that ran on Facebook. That's according to research released Monday from SocialCode, a full-service Facebook agency and subsidiary of The Washington Post Co.

The GOP political message study conducted on Facebook in Iowa and New Hampshire aimed to demonstrate how the largest social networking platform, when used correctly, can become a powerful research tool for politicians and brands.

SocialCode conducted a campaign on Facebook to determine which of seven potential contenders for the Republican presidential nomination garnered the most enthusiastic response in Iowa and New Hampshire. About 5,192 Facebook users between May 23 and June 4 viewed the ads and clicked "Like" in response to randomly displayed images of seven prospective candidates, five messages and the GOP Republican elephant. The candidates include Sarah Palin, Ron Paul, Tim Pawlenty, Mitt Romney, Newt Gingrich, Jon Huntsman, Jr. and Michele Bachmann.

More than 69% of adults in New Hampshire and Iowa are on Facebook. Jean Rossi, executive vice president of sales for Fox, found some of the state findings most interesting. For instance, in Iowa there was a high response to a health-care message, whereas in New Hampshire it did not seem as important. Overall, the health care message elicited a 21% response via Likes. In Iowa, health care got a 23% response, compared with 20% in New Hampshire.

On every message served on Facebook members, Palin received the highest "Like" rate in both New Hampshire and Iowa.

Messages, however, varied in importance depending on the topic, the candidate and the images. The "values" message ranks fourth on the five-item message list across candidates, but it's a major driver for Palin. The message performs significantly better than a focus on the economy. Palin is only one of the seven prospective candidates where economic messaging scores last.

An anti-Obama message tested best out of five common GOP themes for winning back the White House in 2012. While some GOP strategists see Romney's Massachusetts health plan as his Achilles heel, an anti-ObamaCare message performs nearly as well for the former Mass. governor as does an economic one -- the one he has made the centerpiece of this bid for the GOP nod.

The Romney and health-care combination performed better online than a combination of health care and former Minnesota governor Tim Pawlenty.