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From Posting to Voting: The Effects of Political Competition on Online Political Engagement

Author

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  • Settle, Jaime E.
  • Bond, Robert M.
  • Coviello, Lorenzo
  • Fariss, Christopher J.
  • Fowler, James H.
  • Jones, Jason J.

Abstract

How does living in a battleground state during a presidential election affect an individual’s political engagement? We utilize a unique collection of 113 million Facebook status updates to compare users’ political discussion during the 2008 election. “Battleground” state users are significantly more likely to discuss politics in the campaign season than are users in uncompetitive “blackout” states. Posting a political status update—a form of day-to-day engagement with politics—mediates ∼20 percent of the relationship between exposure to political competition and self-reported voter turnout. This paper is among the first to use a massive quantity of social media data to explain the microfoundations of how people think, feel, and act on a daily basis in response to their political environment.

Suggested Citation

  • Settle, Jaime E. & Bond, Robert M. & Coviello, Lorenzo & Fariss, Christopher J. & Fowler, James H. & Jones, Jason J., 2016. "From Posting to Voting: The Effects of Political Competition on Online Political Engagement," Political Science Research and Methods, Cambridge University Press, vol. 4(2), pages 361-378, May.
    • Handle: RePEc:cup:pscirm:v:4:y:2016:i:02:p:361-378_00
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    Cited by:

    1. Anselm Hager & Johannes Hermle & Lukas Hensel & Christopher Roth, 2020. "Does Party Competition Affect Political Activism?," CESifo Working Paper Series 8431, CESifo.
    2. Amador Diaz Lopez Julio Cesar & Collignon-Delmar Sofia & Benoit Kenneth & Matsuo Akitaka, 2017. "Predicting the Brexit Vote by Tracking and Classifying Public Opinion Using Twitter Data," Statistics, Politics and Policy, De Gruyter, vol. 8(1), pages 85-104, October.
    3. Shelleka Gupta & Vinay Chauhan, 2023. "Understanding the Role of Social Networking Sites in Political Marketing," Jindal Journal of Business Research, , vol. 12(1), pages 58-72, June.

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