Tom Brokaw Visits FOX News Channel's "Hannity"

Sean Hannity appears on FOX News Channel's "Hannity" at FOX Studios on May 11, 2015 in New York City.

(Rob Kim/Getty Images)

Fox News personality Sean Hannity on Tuesday posited that he thinks he's got a metric that proves Donald Trump will win November's election by a landslide. It all comes down to Facebook likes.

"Consider the two candidates' Facebook accounts: Trump has over 10 million 'likes' while Hillary has just over 5 million," Hannity said on his podcast.

The host of "Hannity" then said that while Hillary Clinton receives 5,000 views on average for live screenings of events on Facebook, Trump averages 30,000.

It's all a part of a segment that decries the accuracy of national polls by organizations such as CBS, Fox News and The Wall Street Journal that consistently see Clinton leading Trump by several points.

Although there have been studies that say social media activity has an effect on elections, Facebook's influence on the presidential race will likely be negligible.

There's even a bit of a flaw in Hannity's metric. Even though Clinton may have fewer followers on Facebook and average viewers on individual videos, that's not a true measure of the campaign's reach.

The former secretary of state's most popular tweet, in which she tells Trump to "delete your account," garnered 483,000 retweets and more than 643,000 likes.

Meanwhile, Trump's assurance that his Manhattan tower makes the best taco salad got just over 83,000 retweets.

Happy #CincoDeMayo! The best taco bowls are made in Trump Tower Grill. I love Hispanics! https://t.co/ufoTeQd8yA pic.twitter.com/k01Mc6CuDI — Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) May 5, 2016

Likewise, the way Facebook posts spread, the only people privy to a post or video's true reach is an account administrator. The social network provides tools that show how many people have seen posts come through their timeline, even if they don't interact with it.

While Trump's Facebook numbers tell Hannity that the Republican nominee is likely to take the White House, the FiveThirtyEight NowCast, which predicts the election's outcome by averaging poll results, pegged a Clinton win with a 79-percent certainty.

--Eder Campuzano

503.221.4344

@edercampuzano

ecampuzano@oregonian.com