Politics

Lawmakers Were More Active on Social in the Run-Up to the 2020 Election Than in 2016

Pew Research Center analyzed Facebook, Twitter activity of every voting member of Congress

USCapitolBuilding1200x675 — Lawmakers produced 315,818 posts and tweets across Facebook and Twitter from Sept. 3 through Dec. 3, 2020drnadig/iStock

September 30, 2021

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Members of Congress were much more active on social media in the run-up to the 2020 presidential election in the U.S. than they were in 2016, and their posts and tweets drew much more engagement from users of those platforms, according to a new study from Pew Research Center.

Pew found that lawmakers produced 315,818 posts and tweets across Facebook and Twitter from Sept. 3 through Dec. 3, 2020, compared with 207,009 from Sept. 8 through Dec.