Americans are increasingly using their cellphones and social media to get their election news, and despite the popular perception of Republicans being behind on the use of technology, there’s no clear difference among the two parties.
According to a poll from the Pew Research Center, 28 percent of registered voters have used their mobile devices to follow this season’s midterm election coverage, compared to only 13 percent four years ago.
Perhaps more importantly, potential voters are using social media platforms to connect with both candidates and elected officials. Pew reports that 16 percent of registered voters follow candidates through services such as Facebook and Twitter, up 10 points from the 2010 midterms. Politicians have responded by increasing their online presence. According to analytics from Twitter, at the start of the current Congress, 90 percent of House members used the service along with the entire Senate.
While Democrats are generally viewed as more social media savvy than their counterparts across the aisle, this was not the case in the survey.
“Participation in the digital campaign does not have a clear partisan slant,” says Pew, which cuts against the perception that Republicans are stuck in the stone age when it comes to technology. “Republicans and Democrats engage in each of these behaviors at similar rates.” Republicans were more likely to follow a political figure on social media than Democrats, with the parties polling at 18 and 15 percent respectively.
Older voters are also adopting technology and social media at an increasingly rapid rate. Forty percent of voters aged 30-49 used their phones to follow election coverage compared to just 15 percent in 2010. This is a positive development for the GOP, which draws from an older voter base compared to Democrats.
