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
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.