Role of Social Media in the 2016 Iowa Caucuses

Abstract

Social media have become an indispensable tool in modern political campaigns, yet little is known about their impact, especially at the important primary and caucus stages of the US presidential elections. This study investigates the effects of visiting political party and candidate websites as well as following presidential candidates, posting political comments, and liking or sharing political content on social media on participation in the primary stage of the 2016 US election. The results of a precaucus survey in Iowa show that active use of social media tends to have positive effects, while passive social media use has a negative impact on likelihood of caucus attendance. Recommendations for campaigns include redirecting attention away from passive website viewing and developing social media content that will generate likes and shares.

KEYWORDS:

• caucuses
• Iowa voters
• online news media
• political participation
• social media

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

The authors would like to thank Ana Ramirez, a master’s student in the Greenlee School of Journalism and Communications at Iowa State University, for her help with the article.

Notes

Percentages are based on combining the “sometimes,” “often,” and “very often” survey categories.