140-Character Partisan Rhetoric in the 115th Congress

Presentation Type

Oral Presentation

Keywords

Twitter, Congress, 115th Congress, Partisan, Partisan Rhetoric, Annelise Russell

Department

Political Science

Major

Political Science and Integrated Marketing Communications

Abstract

How has the way senators communicate via Twitter shifted as a result of the transition from the Obama Administration to the Trump Administration? With social media, specifically Twitter, becoming an incredibly relevant tool in general politics and campaigns, it is important to understand the ways in which it is most utilized by today’s elected officials. This study builds off research from Annelise Russell, examining the extent to which senators use partisan rhetoric on Twitter. I analyzed the Twitter feeds of all 100 senators during the month of July 2017, coding each tweet for partisan language. Russell found that during the Obama Administration, Republican senators used partisan rhetoric more frequently than Democrats in their tweets and suggested that senators from the party opposite the President may employ partisan rhetoric more often. I find support for this hypothesis—during the Trump Administration, Democrats used partisan rhetoric more frequently than Republicans.

Faculty Mentor

Brian Newman

Presentation Session

Session B

Location

BPC 189

Start Date

23-3-2018 5:00 PM

End Date

23-3-2018 5:15 PM

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Mar 23rd, 5:00 PM Mar 23rd, 5:15 PM

140-Character Partisan Rhetoric in the 115th Congress

BPC 189

How has the way senators communicate via Twitter shifted as a result of the transition from the Obama Administration to the Trump Administration? With social media, specifically Twitter, becoming an incredibly relevant tool in general politics and campaigns, it is important to understand the ways in which it is most utilized by today’s elected officials. This study builds off research from Annelise Russell, examining the extent to which senators use partisan rhetoric on Twitter. I analyzed the Twitter feeds of all 100 senators during the month of July 2017, coding each tweet for partisan language. Russell found that during the Obama Administration, Republican senators used partisan rhetoric more frequently than Democrats in their tweets and suggested that senators from the party opposite the President may employ partisan rhetoric more often. I find support for this hypothesis—during the Trump Administration, Democrats used partisan rhetoric more frequently than Republicans.