Tweets by lawmakers received far greater engagement during the 2020 election than in 2016 | Pew Research Center

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September 24, 2021

Charting Congress on Social Media in the 2016 and 2020 Elections

Tweets by lawmakers received far greater engagement during the 2020 election than in 2016

Tweets by lawmakers received far greater engagement during the 2020 election than in 2016

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Tweets by lawmakers received far greater engagement during the 2020 election than in 2016

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Charting Congress on Social Media in the 2016 and 2020 Elections
Lawmaker social media during 2020 election vs. 2016: More posts audience engagement, but fewer links to sites shared equally by both parties
Tweets by lawmakers received far greater engagement during the 2020 election than in 2016
‘Trump’ was most-mentioned term by Democratic lawmakers on social media during 2020 election
Many of the words used most disproportionately by Democratic lawmakers on social media during 2020 election referenced voting, health or social justice
Mentions of Supreme Court (among Democrats) and voter fraud allegations (among Republicans) produced outsize engagement with lawmaker posts in 2020
Declining share of posts from Republican lawmakers on Facebook and Twitter contain links
More than 100,000 of the links posted by members of Congress on social media in the lat two elections came from just 188 popular domains
Growing number of popular domains being shared largely or exclusively by lawmakers from one party