2.1 Billion Political Messages Have Reached Americans Since Mid-September
SOUTH AMBOY, N.J., Oct. 22, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- RoboKiller's Political Insights Report reveals over 2 billion political messages were sent to Americans in the past 30 days as part of campaign tactics. With the Presidential Election just 12 days away, RoboKiller's proprietary political message trends show Republicans have sent 1.4 billion political texts, which is significantly more than Democrats' total of 615 million text messages. Over 40% of these messages have been targeted towards swing states and states that are actively voting.
Political robocalls are on the decline this political season with Republicans placing 1 million robocalls and Democrats placing just over 900,000 in the last 30 days. RoboKiller attributes the decrease to spam calls causing fewer Americans to answer unknown phone calls.
TOTAL POLITICAL MESSAGES, LAST 30 DAYS
POLITICAL
MESSAGE
REPUBLICANS
DEMOCRATS
TOTAL
--- ---
Political text
messages 1,487,344,525 615,034,363 2,102,378,888
---
Political
robocalls 1,007,783 900,121 1,907,904
---
A new technology called peer-to-peer texting has played a significant role in the massive number of political texts Americans are receiving this election season. Peer-to-peer tech sends large amounts of text messages from a unique phone number, rather than an autodialer. Texts from an autodialer that have not obtained the recipient's prior consent are illegal - making peer-to-peer a clever workaround for campaigners to send unsolicited political texts.
Sending texts in droves is not the only reason political parties are increasingly adopting political messaging as a major campaign tactic. In past presidential elections, political texting has been shown to influence voter turnout, particularly for younger voters. With COVID-19 hindering in-person campaign efforts such as live events or door knocking, Americans can expect to continue to receive political texts in large quantities until the polls close November 3rd.
TOP 5 MOST POLITICALLY TEXTED STATES, LAST 30 DAYS
STATE TOTAL POLITICAL TEXTS
--- ---
California 234,998,871
--- ---
Texas 219,314,179
--- ---
New York 183,606,656
--- ---
Florida 138,998,709
--- ---
Pennsylvania 94,295,766
--- ---
TOP 5 MOST POLITICALLY ROBOCALLED STATES, LAST 30 DAYS
STATE TOTAL POLITICAL ROBOCALLS
--- ---
Texas 209,528
--- ---
Wisconsin 180,687
--- ---
California 174,564
--- ---
Pennsylvania 81,248
--- ---
Florida 54,434
--- ---
Looking at these trends in more detail, it is clear both parties are targeting their efforts at 2020 swing states and those that have started voting. Since June 2020, Republicans have been sending more messages while Democrats have been trying to cover more ground in recent months.
In September 2020, Democrats sent 902 million text messages compared to 120 million in June which is an increase of over 600%. Democrats are now narrowing in on states that voted Republican in past elections in an effort to flip key states lost in 2016.
SWING STATE POLITICAL TEXTS, LAST 30 DAYS
STATE REPUBLICAN TEXTS DEMOCRAT TEXTS 2016 ELECTION
--- ---
Texas 162,872,885 56,441,294
Republican
---
Florida 100,205,582 38,793,128
Republican
---
Pennsylvania 63,342,398 30,953,368
Republican
---
Georgia 54,357,011 20,400,832
Republican
---
Ohio 50,947,467 19,895,726
Republican
---
North Carolina 40,279,630 19,255,974
Republican
---
Michigan 35,186,262 17,600,926
Republican
---
Wisconsin 29,656,293 16,442,315
Republican
---
Arizona 37,374,012 15,613,034
Republican
---
Nevada 27,027,387 10,793,321
Democrat
---
Minnesota 23,839,112 10,618,248
Republican
---
Iowa 19,078,550 6,792,657
Republican
---
New Hampshire 4,439,841 2,117,652
Democrat
---
While political robocalls may not be the primary campaign focus in 2020, they are still relevant and often serve as a way to reach older voters. Democrats are targeting states that voted Republican in 2016, but Republicans have still sent 200,000 more total robocalls this year.
SWING STATE POLITICAL ROBOCALLS, LAST 30 DAYS
STATE REPUBLICAN ROBOCALLS DEMOCRAT ROBOCALLS 2016 ELECTION
--- ---
Texas 63,132 198,095
Republican
---
Wisconsin 180,118 78,979
Republican
---
Pennsylvania 81,248 74,284
Republican
---
Arizona 41,568 38,908
Republican
---
Florida 51,107 37,801
Republican
---
North Carolina 29,206 28,111
Republican
---
Georgia 30,008 22,155
Republican
---
Nevada 22,256 20,308
Democrat
---
Minnesota 23,867 18,411
Democrat
---
Ohio 19,431 16,840
Republican
---
Michigan 17,479 11,510
Republican
---
Iowa 13,150 9,690
Republican
---
Missouri 12,104 8,765
Republican
---
New Hampshire 3,348 2,661
Democrat
---
RoboKiller has also found an increase of political text messages in states that are actively voting. RoboKiller believes this is because political text messages are a more effective method of increasing voter turnout when compared to robocalls. As more states begin and continue to vote, Americans can expect an increase in political messages to follow.
POLITICAL TEXT MESSAGES IN STATES ACTIVELY VOTING, LAST 30 DAYS
STATES REPUBLICAN TEXTS DEMOCRAT TEXTS
--- ---
Arkansas 20,524,721 2,627,828
---
Alabama 20,982,381 6,070,079
---
Colorado 18,011,274 8,783,225
---
D.C. 1,589,722 1,211,298
---
Florida 100,205,582 38,793,128
---
Hawaii 4,934,383 2,310,139
---
Iowa 19,078,550 6,792,657
---
Lousianna 17,969,566 3,976,495
---
Massachusetts 22,156,311 12,145,701
---
Maryland 19,241,082 12,607,705
---
North Dakota 4,604,589 635,993
---
Nevada 27,027,387 10,793,321
---
New York 122,269,882 61,336,774
---
Oklahoma 21,159,276 4,696,929
---
Utah 10,527,732 3,115,420
---
Wisconsin 29,656,293 16,442,315
---
West Virginia 13,486,535 4,937,368
---
Generating voter support in swing and active voting states is not the only focus for political messaging; a large number of these texts and robocalls are still requesting donations. States like California and New York are likely being targeted because they provide a higher probability of donations and/or voter turnout due to population density and higher average household incomes.
TOP 5 MOST POLITICALLY TEXTED NON-SWING STATES, LAST 30 DAYS
STATE REPUBLICAN TEXTS DEMOCRAT TEXTS
--- ---
California 154,679,458 80,319,413
---
New
York 122,269,882 61,336,774
---
Illinois 50,815,972 20,987,823
---
New
Jersey 47,443,823 21,020,369
---
Virginia 40,504,304 19,255,974
---
TOP 5 MOST POLITICALLY ROBOCALLED NON-SWING STATES, LAST 30 DAYS
STATE REPUBLICAN ROBOCALLS DEMOCRAT ROBOCALLS
--- ---
California 166,049 95,798
---
New York 30,248 28,841
---
New Jersey 21,094 18,984
---
Illinois 20,344 19,214
---
Tennessee 13,968 12,185
---
Both Republicans and Democrats appear to be focusing the least on notoriously Democratic and Republican states respectively, as well as states with a lower population density that do not play as critical of a role in the 2020 presidential election.
3 LEAST POLITICALLY TEXTED STATES, LAST 30 DAYS
STATE REPUBLICAN TEXTS DEMOCRAT TEXTS
--- ---
Vermont 1,284,299 1,049,390
---
Washington 34,334,704 14,081,146
---
Wisconsin 29,656,293 16,422,315
---
3 LEAST POLITICALLY ROBOCALLED, LAST 30 DAYS
STATE REPUBLICAN ROBOCALLS DEMOCRAT ROBOCALLS
--- ---
South
Dakota 2,619 1,691
---
New
Hampshire 3,348 2,661
---
Hawaii 1,191 794
---
More information regarding RoboKiller's findings, including state-level data and tips on how Americans can unsubscribe from any unwanted political messages are available upon request.
About RoboKiller:
RoboKiller is one of the top iPhone utility apps in the US, helping users block over 500M telemarketers and robocalls from calling their phones. With over 5 billion robocalls made to US consumers each month, phone spam continues to be the #1 complaint to the FCC, driving hundreds of thousands of RoboKiller app downloads per month. RoboKiller, a Teltech brand, is a division of Mosaic Group, an IAC Company (NASDAQ: IAC).
RoboKiller employs an unbiased, anonymous machine-learning based approach to understand political message trends. The estimates above are based on RoboKiller's proprietary data and user feedback and are for information purposes only. Robocall trends, text trends, and featured data are not a representation of any single political party, person, or organization's campaign efforts.
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SOURCE RoboKiller
