Final Research Paper - Jacqui

U.S. Citizens Have the Power:
Social Media’s Affect on Voting Citizens

"Four more years" President Barack Obama tweeted after his close-call win in the 2012 Presidential Election against Republican nominee, Mitt Romney. In U.S. society today, we Americans turn to social media for our sources of information. Even adults are easily influenced by how things are worded or presented. Since the 2008 Presidential Election, media have grown and changed, influencing U.S. voters choices and selections. The introduction of social media in the early 21st century transformed the way that U.S. voting citizens get their news. This started a personal shift in how people send and receive their information. Social media influenced the result of the 2012 U.S. Presidential Election by providing different outlets of information for the voting citizens to access and share.

Both candidates well represented on social media. 

2008 Election

It is not news that political campaigns changed due to the 2008 Presidential Election between Obama and McCain. President Obama successfully used the new media to support his campaign for social change. The Obama campaign mission, “involvement through empowerment,” (Aaker and Smith, 34) and they used social media to enhance their mission. By using social media, the Obama campaign gave voters a sense of purpose and got young voters to get involved with the campaign. This made the voting class feel like they had a say in the campaign through their involvement on social media. John McCain’s campaign did not use social media nearly as much as Obama’s campaign did. If the Internet did not exist, many think that Obama would not be president. “Were it not for the Internet, Barack Obama would not have been the [Democratic] nominee,” (Aaker and Smith, 46) Arianna Huffington, Editor-in-chief at the Huffington Post. According to “political scientist Harold Lasswell,” there are three major societal functions that social media plays for the younger citizens, “surveillance of the world to report on going events, interpretation of the meaning of events, and socialization of individuals into their cultural settings,” (Graber, 5). From this, social media plays an important role in the lives of young voters.



Internet is the reason that Obama won the 2008 Presidential Election.

18 – 30 Year Old Voters

          For today’s young citizens social media is their source of information. When you have a candidate that “owns” the mainstream of social media, it is hard for any other candidate to try to move into the social media world. Obama “owned” the mainstream of media before the 2012 Presidential Election. The problem with social media being the source of information for the younger voting citizens is there is a limited amount of information given and it limits the amount of key information obtained. Obama, having many years more social media campaigning experience than Romney, automatically swayed social media towards the Democratic Party. According to the Tufts University Circle Fact Sheet, Obama had a following of young voters 60% to 37% over Mitt Romney, lower than his margin in the 2008 Election where he represented 66% over McCain's 32%. The Republican Party used social media more in the 2012 Election than they did in the 2008 Election.

The importance of social media to the Presidential campaign between the two parties. 

31 – 50 Year Old Voters

       Though Obama won over the younger voting crowd, he lost the older votes in several states to Romney. According to a survey taken in 2010 by PewResearch 50% of 30-50 year old voters are on social media whereas 75% of the younger voters are on social media. The older voters use social media to connect with old friends and a way to watch videos. Many claim to use social media to catch up with things going on in the world. Though Romney won many of this age groups vote, Obama’s impressive YouTube campaign intrigued this generation. The younger voters do not have the patience to sit watch a video message that the older generations found helpful and informative. Obama used YouTube and advertisement messages to get to a wider audience and had the most successful YouTube campaign in history.

Social media hashtags used to track the Obama-Biden and Romney-Ryan campaigns. 

51+ Year Old Voters

          There are only about 36% of 51+ year olds on social media according to the 2010 survey conducted by PewResearch. Social media is not their main source to information like it is for the younger generations. Campaigns still need to use the older forms of Media to reach the older crowds. These generations of voters use newspapers and the internet as their medium to political information. Romney used more of these techniques over social media. It shows in the age of people who voted for him, winning the 45+ voters in most states. Each candidate tried to relate to all the different age groups. In Media in Society, it mentions how the media today offers more than ever before. Trying to sell to a particular group is harder than ever because there are smaller more specific groups of people. A political campaign is like selling a product, trying to get a person to select your brand. The campaigns had the hardest time with selling their brand to the older voting citizens because the available outlets to this group are much more limited.

The Wall Street Journal the day after the 2012 Presidential Election.

2012 Republican Campaign

          The Romney-Ryan campaign decided to hold back on its campaigning until the final few months because, “they believed most Americans, including the bulk of undecided or persuadable voters, would only being paying concerted attention to the campaign in the final few months,” (Ceaser, Busch and Pitney, 98).  This worked for their campaign of mass media but when it came to social media, the key is to start early and gain followers and supporters.  The Romney-Ryan campaign started too late and as a result lost the needed support of the younger voters by not having a strong social media presence.  The lack of younger voters shows in the poles.  Though comparing the 2008 and 2012 Election, the Romney-Ryan campaign was much more successful than the McCain-Palin campaign on social media. 

The Romney-Ryan campaign started a social media campaign too late.

2012 Democratic Campaign

          The Obama-Biden campaign stride to give the power and voice back to the people. They gave the power back by providing the people with a way to use their voice and found the perfect platform for the citizens in social media. Social media presented a way for U.S. voting citizens to express their needs and concerns directly to the Obama-Biden campaign. They focused on “inspiring mass involvement or winning people’s time result[ing] in winning people’s time, money and votes,” (Aaker and Smith, 44). Using texting and email to contact them, the Obama-Biden campaign became personal with their followers. Their overwhelming presence on social media sights made sure that their followers knew Obama would be there, always. This gave people a sense of comfort along with a sense of belonging because the Obama-Biden campaign made them feel they were a part of something bigger.

Obama's social media presence over competitors.  

Why Obama Was Successful

        “Barack Obama launched the most sophisticated “new Media” campaign in history and won.” (Graber, 194) The Democratic Party learned quickly early on social media are the easiest and cheapest way to get the name of their nominee out there. The Republican Party learned too late how important social media are in influencing the younger generation of voters. Though social media limits the amount of important information that voters see, it has become one of the most prominent outlets for information. Now that the political parties see what works in attracting votes through social media, political campaigns will forever be changed.

President Obama won the election using social media. 

Works Cited

Aaker, Jennifer, Andy Smith, and Carlye Adler. "Yes we can! how Obama Won with Social Media." The Dragonfly Effect: Quick, Effective, and Powerful Ways to use Social Media to Drive Social Change. First ed. San Fransisco, CA: Jossey-Bass, 2010. 34-34-47.

Campbell, Richard, et al. "Political Stories and Media Messages." Media in Society. Ed. Jesse Hassenger, et al. Boston: Bedford/St. Martin's, 2014. 103-103-131.

Ceaser, James W., Andrew E. Busch, and John J. Pitney JR. After Hope and Change: The 2012 Elections and American Politics. Lanham, MD: Rowman & Littlefield Publishers, Inc., 2013.

Graber, Doris A. Mass Media and American Politics / Doris A. Graber. Washington, DC : CQ PRess, 2009; 8th ed, 2009. . EBSCO. <http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=cat01985a&AN=SMC.336340&site=eds-live&scope=site>.

Jashinsky, Lauryn. the Affect of Social Media on the 2012 Presidential Election., 2012.

"Millennials: Confident. Connected. Open to Change." PewResearch. February 24, 2010 2010. March 17, 2014 .

Obama, Barack. "BarackObama.com." 2013. <https://www.youtube.com/user/BarackObamadotcom>.

---. "Facebook: Barack Obama." 2014. <https://www.facebook.com/barackobama>.

---. "Twitter: Barack Obama." 2014. <https://twitter.com/BarackObama>.

Romney, Mitt. "Facebook: Mitt Romney." 2014. <https://www.facebook.com/mittromney>.

---. "Twitter: Mitt Romney." 2014. <https://twitter.com/MittRomney>.

Staff, Circle. The Center for Information & Research on Civic Learning & Engagement Fact Sheet. Medford, Ma: Tufts University, 2013.

Stallings, Susan. "Ron Paul, young voters, and the unfettered power of social media." November 2, 2012 2012. March 17, 2014 <http://www.examiner.com/article/ron-paul-young-voters-and-the-unfettered-power-of-social-media>.