Local Attentiveness in Online Congressional Communications

• In Event: Congressional Communication in the Social Media Age

Abstract

Political discourse in the United States is seen as having become increasingly nationalized in recent years, but to what extent do congressional representatives still engage locally through their public communications? Based on a comprehensive dataset of over 10 million tweets and Facebook posts sent by Members of Congress between 2009 and 2022, this paper explores the extent to which congressional representatives focus on local or national issues in their online communications. Using a first-of-its-kind fine-tuned machine learning classifier of local content, combined with a hand-coded list of over 5,000 news web domains, this paper assesses how often Members use localized messaging, which Members are most inclined to use locally-focused communications and whether a local communications strategy is electorally or politically advantageous for Members.



The results suggest, first, that congressional communications still contain a substantial and consistent focus on local content, with the percentage of localized congressional messages sent in a given month regularly exceeding 50 percent. The use of local messaging is also dynamic and strategic, with Members in a position of congressional and presidential control being most prone to focusing on local content, while members in a position of institutional opposition increasingly focus on national content.

However, increased localized messaging is found to have limited benefit for Members. Experimentally, localized frames are not found to increase constituent policy approval, and across a range of measures, localized messaging does not increase constituent approval, campaign fundraising, or electoral performance for Members.

These results, collectively, highlight how even in a nationalized online communications environment, local factors still play a significant role in guiding Member messaging strategies, even in the absence of tangible political benefits.

Author

• Michael Heseltine, University of Amsterdam