Democrats are more than twice as likely as their Republican counterparts to make presidential campaign contributions via text message or a mobile app, according to a study published by the Pew Research Center last week. Using data taken from two national telephone surveys in September, the report concludes that 15 percent of Democrat donors have made contributions using the above means, while just 6 percent of Republicans have done similarly. Democrats also lead Republicans 57 percent to 34 percent in the use of email and conventional online donation.
The figures play into a familiar narrative that has emerged over the last four years, beginning with Barack Obama's much-vaunted reliance on small, online donations in the 2008 campaign. Both Obama and Mitt Romney have attempted to court the internet electorate through social media in recent months, with the President arguably coming out on top — while Twitter engagement peaked at 14,355 tweets per minute during Romney's speech to the Republican National Convention back in August, Obama topped 52,000 during his equivalent Democratic National Convention speech. Whether this engagement will translate into votes on Tuesday remains to be seen.