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