Abstract
For decades US senators have maximized their limited resources to juggle policy, party politics, and constituents, but the rise of social media sheds new light on how they make these strategic choices. David Mayhew’s seminal study of Congress (1974) argues that lawmakers engage in three types of activities – credit claiming, advertising, and position taking, but equally important is understanding how lawmakers make strategic choices among these activities. Senators’ limited resources and attention forces them to prioritize and make trade-offs among these activities, and new media platforms, like Twitter, offer a window into that decision-making process. This article examines what influences senators’ decisions to publicly communicate these activities on Twitter. By using senators’ daily Twitter activity in 2013 and 2015 as a measure of their individual agenda, I find that senators are most likely to prioritize position-taking activities. Women and committee leaders allocate the most attention to policy positions, but attention to policy may come at a cost. When senators do choose to prioritize policy through position taking, they often make trade-offs that lead to decreased attention to advertising and credit claiming. These activities and the choices among them not only have implications for lawmakers’ behavior in Congress, but also the type of representation and information constituents can expect from their elected leaders.
Appendix
2013 Senators | ||
Name | Age | Total Tweets |
Alexander | 73 | 418 |
Ayotte | 45 | 1812 |
Baldwin | 51 | 992 |
Barrasso | 61 | 666 |
Baucus | 72 | 150 |
Begich | 51 | 188 |
Bennet | 49 | 198 |
Blumenthal | 67 | 569 |
Blunt | 64 | 1269 |
Boozman | 63 | 328 |
Boxer | 73 | 260 |
Burr | 58 | 328 |
Cantwell | 55 | 520 |
Cardin | 70 | 1195 |
Carper | 67 | 868 |
Casey | 53 | 536 |
Chambliss | 70 | 309 |
Coats | 70 | 681 |
Coburn | 65 | 389 |
Cochran | 76 | 458 |
Collins | 61 | 271 |
Coons | 50 | 543 |
Corker | 61 | 673 |
Cornyn | 62 | 2272 |
Crapo | 62 | 2094 |
Cruz | 43 | 1826 |
Donnelly | 58 | 511 |
Durbin | 69 | 667 |
Enzi | 70 | 576 |
Feinstein | 80 | 365 |
Fischer | 62 | 468 |
Flake | 51 | 269 |
Franken | 62 | 196 |
Gillibrand | 47 | 1968 |
Graham | 58 | 1075 |
Grassley | 80 | 563 |
Hagan | 60 | 706 |
Harkin | 74 | 51 |
Hatch | 79 | 51 |
Heinrich | 42 | 466 |
Heitkamp | 58 | 1142 |
Heller | 53 | 1098 |
Hirono | 66 | 394 |
Hoeven | 56 | 244 |
Inhofe | 79 | 905 |
Isakson | 79 | 228 |
Johanns | 63 | 53 |
Chiesa | 48 | 30 |
Johnson | 67 | 266 |
Kaine | 55 | 1177 |
King | 69 | 656 |
Kirk | 54 | 721 |
Klobuchar | 53 | 484 |
Landrieu | 58 | 708 |
Lautenberg | 89 | 375 |
Leahy | 73 | 1348 |
Lee | 42 | 644 |
Levin | 79 | 198 |
Manchin | 63 | 999 |
Markey | 67 | 596 |
McCain | 73 | 1562 |
McCaskill | 60 | 403 |
McConnell | 71 | 1999 |
Menendez | 59 | 1035 |
Merkley | 57 | 449 |
Mikulski | 77 | 1077 |
MCowan | 44 | 243 |
Moran | 59 | 781 |
Murkowski | 56 | 316 |
Murphy | 40 | 1348 |
Murray | 63 | 1846 |
Nelson | 71 | 74 |
Paul | 50 | 1057 |
Portman | 58 | 758 |
Pryor | 50 | 663 |
Reed | 64 | 862 |
Reid | 74 | 623 |
Risch | 70 | 118 |
Roberts | 77 | 319 |
Rockafeller | 76 | 865 |
R Johnson | 58 | 161 |
Rubio | 42 | 285 |
Sanders | 72 | 2121 |
Schatz | 41 | 174 |
Schumer | 63 | 940 |
Scott | 48 | 487 |
Sessions | 67 | 230 |
Shaheen | 66 | 882 |
Shelby | 79 | 23 |
Stabenow | 63 | 248 |
Tester | 57 | 61 |
Thune | 52 | 580 |
T Udall | 65 | 470 |
Toomey | 52 | 896 |
Udall | 63 | 904 |
Vitter | 52 | 834 |
Warner | 59 | 1071 |
Warren | 64 | 179 |
Whitehouse | 58 | 578 |
Wicker | 62 | 429 |
Wyden | 64 | 433 |
2015 Senators | ||
Name | Age | Total Tweets |
Alexander | 74 | 912 |
Ayotte | 46 | 2223 |
Baldwin | 52 | 3328 |
Barrasso | 62 | 671 |
Bennett | 50 | 280 |
Blumenthal | 68 | 1739 |
Blunt | 64 | 1352 |
Booker | 45 | 4428 |
Boozman | 64 | 479 |
Boxer | 74 | 392 |
Brown | 62 | 414 |
Burr | 59 | 606 |
Cantwell | 56 | 619 |
Cardin | 71 | 1695 |
Carper | 67 | 882 |
Casey | 54 | 1040 |
Cassidy | 57 | 611 |
Coats | 71 | 1392 |
Cochran | 77 | 413 |
Collins | 62 | 314 |
Coons | 51 | 1348 |
Corker | 62 | 634 |
Cornyn | 62 | 3308 |
Cotton | 37 | 1421 |
Crapo | 63 | 288 |
Cruz | 44 | 778 |
Daines | 52 | 1328 |
Donnelly | 59 | 1086 |
Durbin | 70 | 2217 |
Enzi | 70 | 928 |
Ernst | 44 | 584 |
Feinstein | 81 | 1085 |
Fischer | 63 | 924 |
Flake | 52 | 363 |
Franken | 63 | 231 |
Gardner | 40 | 1046 |
Gillibrand | 48 | 2613 |
Graham | 59 | 612 |
Grassley | 81 | 835 |
Heinrich | 43 | 780 |
Heitkamp | 59 | 2472 |
Heller | 54 | 1470 |
Hirono | 67 | 430 |
Hoeven | 57 | 561 |
Inhofe | 80 | 404 |
Isakson | 70 | 1034 |
J. Tester | 58 | 990 |
Kaine | 56 | 1478 |
King | 70 | 677 |
Kirk | 55 | 1375 |
Klobuchar | 54 | 1281 |
Lankford | 46 | 756 |
Leahy | 74 | 2387 |
Manchin | 67 | 1060 |
Markey | 68 | 1809 |
McCain | 78 | 2510 |
McCaskill | 64 | 440 |
McConnell | 72 | 1784 |
Menendez | 61 | 557 |
Merkley | 68 | 762 |
Mike Lee | 43 | 532 |
Mikulski | 78 | 733 |
M Capito | 61 | 1350 |
Moran | 60 | 391 |
Murkowski | 57 | 1066 |
Murphy | 41 | 3438 |
Murray | 64 | 1914 |
Nelson | 72 | 36 |
Paul | 51 | 4071 |
Perdue | 65 | 1001 |
Peters | 56 | 1057 |
Portman | 59 | 1262 |
Reed | 65 | 869 |
Reid | 75 | 561 |
Risch | 71 | 90 |
R Johnson | 59 | 895 |
Roberts | 78 | 1581 |
Rounds | 60 | 716 |
Rubio | 43 | 2382 |
Sanders | 73 | 2793 |
Sasse | 42 | 466 |
Schatz | 42 | 331 |
Schumer | 64 | 2339 |
Scott | 49 | 1687 |
Sessions | 68 | 237 |
Shaheen | 67 | 955 |
Shelby | 80 | 390 |
Stabenow | 64 | 247 |
Sullivan | 50 | 686 |
Thune | 54 | 851 |
Tillis | 54 | 801 |
Toomey | 53 | 435 |
Udall | 67 | 639 |
Vitter | 53 | 2203 |
Warner | 60 | 639 |
Warren | 65 | 416 |
Whitehouse | 59 | 949 |
Wicker | 63 | 599 |
Wyden | 65 | 1068 |
Additional Coding Examples | |
Position Taking (Position on a vote, a bill, discussion of legislation, policy preferences.) | More than half of Americans “baffled” by #ObamaCare impacts. That’s why I support efforts to defund this #TrainWreck. http://t.co/eqK28Mg1Hy I have repeatedly made it clear I will not vote to raise the debt ceiling unless we address why we are going further in debt |
Credit Claiming (Local project involvement, policy with local implications, credit for introducing policy and/or projects) | What does #OMDP4NM stand 4?#NMJobs & future gens. Proud to introduce #OrganMountains #publiclands bill today: http://t.co/RhOeYMcM3V Plateau’s #broadband expansion in #NM critical 4 #smallbiz #jobs-proud 2 be in Moriarty 2 celebrate #ARRA investment http://t.co/kWb6vbbIrs |
Advertising (Promoting your political brand through media, press, visits, and talks) | RT @Whereruproulx: #Tourism Press Conference with @SenatorShaheen at #WeirsBeach #NH. Int’l visitors spend $4500 per ind. on avg. http://t’_ Had a great time talking w/the barbers at Unique Reflections but told them my loyalty lies w/my barber back in #RVA http://t.co/7AhiSC9Eae |
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