Politico reported an unexpected revelation today: there are more Republicans than Democrats on Twitter. Furthermore, the Republicans are tweeting more often than their left-leaning colleagues, and gaining greater popularity.
Stats courtesy of Politico via the Congressional Research Service:
- Nearly 2x as many Republicans as Democrats have Twitter accounts (101-57)
- During two, weeklong periods in July and August, congressional Republicans posted 932 tweets compared with 255 for Democrats
- SENATE: 4,186 people follow the median Republican VS. 2,874 for the median Democrat
- HOUSE: 1,615 people follow the median Republican VS. 969 for the median Democrat
We don’t normally consider politicians of either party to be particularly hip or tech-savvy, but the likes of Sen. Jim DeMint (26,684 followers), Sen. John McCain (1,399,955 followers), and Sen. Chuck Grassley (16,530 followers) have hit us with Bibles full of truth. They have become three of the most sought-after voices in the tweetdom.
Granted, some Congressional Democrats like Senator Claire McCaskill (32,442 followers) are high-profile social-media users as well. And as Three Ships Media explored earlier this week, VA gubernatorial candidateCreigh Deeds is a frequent tweeter as well.
But on Capitol Hill Democratic tweets are putting a minimal dent in the GOP tweet machine.
This is legitimately surprising. For as many social media inroads as the Obama Campaign made in 2008, we imagined that Dems would be jumping on the Twitter bandwagon with great proficiency and success. Such is obviously not the case.
However, they would be very wise to do so.
Politicians can’t afford to view social media as an unnecessary PR tool only utilized by a progressive few or a desperate underdog. Direct communication venues like Twitter represent the new standard of constituent communication, and Democrats would be wise to embrace it accordingly. Otherwise, they will miss out on key constituent-outreach opportunities.
Gotta run – John McCain just came on the CBS Early Show. I know because he tweeted me this morning.
