PR Newswire | Oct 22, 2020 01:15PM EDT

10/22 12:15 CDT

2.1 Billion Political Messages Have Reached Americans Since Mid-SeptemberPolitical Messages are Targeting Swing and Active Voting States with 12 Days Left Until the Election SOUTH AMBOY, N.J., Oct. 22, 2020

SOUTH AMBOY, N.J., Oct. 22, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- RoboKiller's Political Insights Report reveals over 2 billion political messages were sent to Americans in the past 30 days as part of campaign tactics. With the Presidential Election just 12 days away, RoboKiller's proprietary political message trends show Republicans have sent 1.4 billion political texts, which is significantly more than Democrats' total of 615 million text messages. Over 40% of these messages have been targeted towards swing states and states that are actively voting.

Political robocalls are on the decline this political season with Republicans placing 1 million robocalls and Democrats placing just over 900,000 in the last 30 days. RoboKiller attributes the decrease to spam calls causing fewer Americans to answer unknown phone calls.

TOTAL POLITICAL MESSAGES, LAST 30 DAYS

POLITICAL MESSAGE REPUBLICANS DEMOCRATS TOTAL

Political text messages 1,487,344,525 615,034,363 2,102,378,888

Political robocalls 1,007,783 900,121 1,907,904

A new technology called peer-to-peer texting has played a significant role in the massive number of political texts Americans are receiving this election season. Peer-to-peer tech sends large amounts of text messages from a unique phone number, rather than an autodialer. Texts from an autodialer that have not obtained the recipient's prior consent are illegal - making peer-to-peer a clever workaround for campaigners to send unsolicited political texts.

Sending texts in droves is not the only reason political parties are increasingly adopting political messaging as a major campaign tactic. In past presidential elections, political texting has been shown to influence voter turnout, particularly for younger voters. With COVID-19 hindering in-person campaign efforts such as live events or door knocking, Americans can expect to continue to receive political texts in large quantities until the polls close November 3rd.

TOP 5 MOST POLITICALLY TEXTED STATES, LAST 30 DAYS

STATE TOTAL POLITICAL TEXTS

California 234,998,871

Texas 219,314,179

New York 183,606,656

Florida 138,998,709

Pennsylvania 94,295,766

TOP 5 MOST POLITICALLY ROBOCALLED STATES, LAST 30 DAYS

STATE TOTAL POLITICAL ROBOCALLS

Texas 209,528

Wisconsin 180,687

California 174,564

Pennsylvania 81,248

Florida 54,434

Looking at these trends in more detail, it is clear both parties are targeting their efforts at 2020 swing states and those that have started voting. Since June 2020, Republicans have been sending more messages while Democrats have been trying to cover more ground in recent months.

In September 2020, Democrats sent 902 million text messages compared to 120 million in June which is an increase of over 600%. Democrats are now narrowing in on states that voted Republican in past elections in an effort to flip key states lost in 2016.

SWING STATE POLITICAL TEXTS, LAST 30 DAYS

STATE REPUBLICAN TEXTS DEMOCRAT TEXTS 2016 ELECTION

Texas 162,872,885 56,441,294 Republican

Florida 100,205,582 38,793,128 Republican

Pennsylvania 63,342,398 30,953,368 Republican

Georgia 54,357,011 20,400,832 Republican

Ohio 50,947,467 19,895,726 Republican

North Carolina 40,279,630 19,255,974 Republican

Michigan 35,186,262 17,600,926 Republican

Wisconsin 29,656,293 16,442,315 Republican

Arizona 37,374,012 15,613,034 Republican

Nevada 27,027,387 10,793,321 Democrat

Minnesota 23,839,112 10,618,248 Republican

Iowa 19,078,550 6,792,657 Republican

New Hampshire 4,439,841 2,117,652 Democrat

While political robocalls may not be the primary campaign focus in 2020, they are still relevant and often serve as a way to reach older voters. Democrats are targeting states that voted Republican in 2016, but Republicans have still sent 200,000 more total robocalls this year.

SWING STATE POLITICAL ROBOCALLS, LAST 30 DAYS

STATE REPUBLICAN ROBOCALLS DEMOCRAT ROBOCALLS 2016 ELECTION

Texas 63,132 198,095 Republican

Wisconsin 180,118 78,979 Republican

Pennsylvania 81,248 74,284 Republican

Arizona 41,568 38,908 Republican

Florida 51,107 37,801 Republican

North Carolina 29,206 28,111 Republican

Georgia 30,008 22,155 Republican

Nevada 22,256 20,308 Democrat

Minnesota 23,867 18,411 Democrat

Ohio 19,431 16,840 Republican

Michigan 17,479 11,510 Republican

Iowa 13,150 9,690 Republican

Missouri 12,104 8,765 Republican

New Hampshire 3,348 2,661 Democrat

RoboKiller has also found an increase of political text messages in states that are actively voting. RoboKiller believes this is because political text messages are a more effective method of increasing voter turnout when compared to robocalls. As more states begin and continue to vote, Americans can expect an increase in political messages to follow.

POLITICAL TEXT MESSAGES IN STATES ACTIVELY VOTING, LAST 30 DAYS

STATES REPUBLICAN TEXTS DEMOCRAT TEXTS

Arkansas 20,524,721 2,627,828

Alabama 20,982,381 6,070,079

Colorado 18,011,274 8,783,225

D.C. 1,589,722 1,211,298

Florida 100,205,582 38,793,128

Hawaii 4,934,383 2,310,139

Iowa 19,078,550 6,792,657

Lousianna 17,969,566 3,976,495

Massachusetts 22,156,311 12,145,701

Maryland 19,241,082 12,607,705

North Dakota 4,604,589 635,993

Nevada 27,027,387 10,793,321

New York 122,269,882 61,336,774

Oklahoma 21,159,276 4,696,929

Utah 10,527,732 3,115,420

Wisconsin 29,656,293 16,442,315

West Virginia 13,486,535 4,937,368

Generating voter support in swing and active voting states is not the only focus for political messaging; a large number of these texts and robocalls are still requesting donations. States like California and New York are likely being targeted because they provide a higher probability of donations and/or voter turnout due to population density and higher average household incomes.

TOP 5 MOST POLITICALLY TEXTED NON-SWING STATES, LAST 30 DAYS

STATE REPUBLICAN TEXTS DEMOCRAT TEXTS

California 154,679,458 80,319,413

New York 122,269,882 61,336,774

Illinois 50,815,972 20,987,823

New Jersey 47,443,823 21,020,369

Virginia 40,504,304 19,255,974

TOP 5 MOST POLITICALLY ROBOCALLED NON-SWING STATES, LAST 30 DAYS

STATE REPUBLICAN ROBOCALLS DEMOCRAT ROBOCALLS

California 166,049 95,798

New York 30,248 28,841

New Jersey 21,094 18,984

Illinois 20,344 19,214

Tennessee 13,968 12,185

Both Republicans and Democrats appear to be focusing the least on notoriously Democratic and Republican states respectively, as well as states with a lower population density that do not play as critical of a role in the 2020 presidential election.

3 LEAST POLITICALLY TEXTED STATES, LAST 30 DAYS

STATE REPUBLICAN TEXTS DEMOCRAT TEXTS

Vermont 1,284,299 1,049,390

Washington 34,334,704 14,081,146

Wisconsin 29,656,293 16,422,315

3 LEAST POLITICALLY ROBOCALLED, LAST 30 DAYS

STATE REPUBLICAN ROBOCALLS DEMOCRAT ROBOCALLS

South Dakota 2,619 1,691

New Hampshire 3,348 2,661

Hawaii 1,191 794

More information regarding RoboKiller's findings, including state-level data and tips on how Americans can unsubscribe from any unwanted political messages are available upon request.

About RoboKiller:RoboKiller is one of the top iPhone utility apps in the US, helping users block over 500M telemarketers and robocalls from calling their phones. With over 5 billion robocalls made to US consumers each month, phone spam continues to be the #1 complaint to the FCC, driving hundreds of thousands of RoboKiller app downloads per month. RoboKiller, a Teltech brand, is a division of Mosaic Group, an IAC Company (NASDAQ: IAC).

RoboKiller employs an unbiased, anonymous machine-learning based approach to understand political message trends. The estimates above are based on RoboKiller's proprietary data and user feedback and are for information purposes only. Robocall trends, text trends, and featured data are not a representation of any single political party, person, or organization's campaign efforts.

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SOURCE RoboKiller