Technology that enables campaigns to monitor text messaging conversations with voters in real time is generating more personalized data that candidates are using to craft targeted political appeals.
Two weeks after the coronavirus pandemic grounded most 2020 campaigns, text messaging is emerging as the primary method for establishing relationships with voters and encouraging turnout. Backed by technology that records and stores individual text exchanges, the transition to a virtual footing is expected to lead to a spike in the “qualitative” data collected by campaigns. The information, a mass compilation of millions speaking in their own words, is both shaping politicians’ messages and speeding their ability to adapt as voters’ concerns evolve.
Thomas Peters, a Republican operative, said “2020 is going to be the year of the political text message because it’s the last personal channel.” His firm, RumbleUp, developed software that allows text message conversations between field staff and prospective voters to be viewed concurrently by decision-makers back at campaign headquarters.
Campaign strategists in both political parties consider in-person conversations initiated by acquaintances and neighbors the most effective strategy for forging connections with voters and convincing them to back their candidates. With the coronavirus pandemic raging, the campaigns have pivoted to a host of virtual communications, including phone-banking and advertising across a range of digital platforms.
But sending text messages to voters’ mobile devices is preferred.
The response rates are high, surpassing campaign-generated emails, and they tend to be immediate. And, the ability to review entire text chains provides a deeper understanding of voter psychology and opinions on a range of topics. A Republican data strategist said the qualitative data collected are mined for trends on issues and specific wording that can be used swiftly to craft messaging and political speeches that voters are more likely to respond to.
“With all of this data available in text format, it allows you to do this analysis,” said Adam Meldrum, a GOP data analytics specialist. Plus, added Ash Wright, a Republican strategist in Austin, Texas, who oversees door-to-door voter canvassing operations, information gathered from text messaging can be analyzed “on a much faster and efficient level.”
In addition to regular political communications, major campaigns have been using text messaging to send coronavirus-related health and safety information to voters and constituents. The move is intended to build trust and get voters in the habit of checking and responding to campaign appeals.
Joe Biden, the likely Democratic nominee, has sent 2.6 million text messages to targeted voters over the past two weeks on just one of his campaign’s multiple digital platforms, an aide to the former vice president told the Washington Examiner on Tuesday. The Republican National Committee uses texting to register voters, promote absentee mail-in voting, and tout President Trump’s handling of the pandemic. The Trump campaign, at the forefront of digital communications, declined to comment.
Republican congressional candidates are among the biggest converts to utilizing text-messaging technology in the weeks since the coronavirus outbreak forced campaigns to adopt social-distancing guidelines, a spokesman for the National Republican Congressional Committee asserted.
The NRCC, which uses a customized version of RumbleUp called GOP Envoy, has had several candidates, challengers, and incumbents inquire about the platform and integrate it into their campaigns. “Our sign-ups have gone up drastically,” said Lyman Munschauer, NRCC digital director.
“It’s not quite shaking their hand or talking to them face to face, but it’s better than a mass-blast email or [traditional] mailing,” Munschauer said.
