| ID | 165457 |
| Title Proper | Awkward Independents |
| Other Title Information | what Are Third-Party Candidates Doing on Twitter? |
| Language | ENG |
| Author | Evans, Heather K. |
| Summary / Abstract (Note) | Previous literature on partisan campaign behavior shows that third-party candidates do not have the same presence online as major-party candidates, and these differences have been linked regularly to campaign finance. Twitter, however, has changed the online campaigning game. Because Twitter essentially is free, third-party candidates can even the playing field with major-party candidates who have more financial resources. The question asked in this article is whether this is actually the case. Evans, Cordova, and Sipole (2014) showed that in 2012, third-party candidates were less likely to have accounts on Twitter; however, those who had accounts tweeted more often than major party candidates. This article updates those findings to consider the behavior of third-party candidates during the 2014 and 2016 congressional races. Using a dataset of all candidates for both the US House and the US Senate, we show that the gap has begun to close between major- and minor-party candidates on Twitter. Third-party candidates, however, continue to have a different way of communicating with their followers on Twitter when compared to Democrats and Republicans.
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| `In' analytical Note | Political Science and Politics Vol. 52, No.1; Jan 2019: p.1-6 |
| Journal Source | Political Science and Politics 2019-03 52, 1 |
| Key Words | Awkward Independents ; Third-Party Candidates ; Partisan Campaign Behavior |