The Internet and the 2020 Campaign

Drawing on original research conducted by leading experts, The Internet and the 2020 Campaign examines how candidates, campaigns and others used the Internet throughout the 2020 election.

Although many developments surrounding the Internet campaign are now considered to be standard fare, there were a number of newer developments in 2020. Drawing on original research conducted by leading experts, The Internet and the 2020 Campaign attempts to cover these developments in a comprehensive fashion. How are campaigns making use of the Internet to organize and mobilize their ground game? To communicate their message? How are citizens making use of online sources to become informed, follow campaigns, participate, and more, and to what effect? How has the Internet affected developments in media reporting, both traditional and non-traditional, of the campaign? What other messages were available online, and what effects did these messages have had on citizens attitudes and vote choice? The book examines these questions in an attempt to summarize the 2020 online campaign.

Section I: The Internet “Meta-Campaign”

Chapter 1. Social Media against Society: Information Manipulation in the 2020 Election by Luca Luceri, Stefano Cresci, and Slivia Giordano

Chapter 2. Digital Media Expenditures in Presidential Campaigns, 2008-2020 by Jeff Gulati and Christine B. Williams

Chapter 3. Incivility in the 2020 Congressional Campaigns by James N. Druckman, Martin J. Kifer and Michael Parkin

Section II: Campaign Communication on the Internet

Chapter 4. All Aboard the #TrumpTrain: How House Candidates Discussed Trump on Twitter in 2016, 2018, and 2020 by Heather K. Evans, Michaela Woodard, Miranda Estrada and Jackson Jannell

Chapter 5. “Tweeting to Power,” Reconsidered: Information Control and Congressional Campaigns By Jason Gainous and Kevin M. Wagner

Chapter 6. What's the Issue With Instagram? Issue and Character Trait Communication in the 2020 Presidential Election by Mark D. Ludwig

Chapter 7. Constructing Gender, Race, Marital Status, and Sexual Orientation as "Presidential": The Case of Instagram and the 2020 Primary Campaign by Diana Zulli

Section III: The Internet Campaign and Citizens

Chapter 8. Media Dependency and the 2020 Campaign: Source Effects on Media Trust, Foreign Interference, and Regulations by Terri L. Towner, Robert Alexander, and Lauren Copeland

Chapter 9. Who Are The "Expressive Attentives?" Identifying Democratic Twitter Activists in 2020 US Election Campaign Conversations by Todd Belt and Michael Cornfield

Chapter 10. Generational Differences in Digital Electoral Engagement in the 2020 Presidential Campaign by Diana Owen and Wenyuan Deng

Chapter 11. Platforms and the Presidency: Public Preferences for Digital and Socially-Mediated Presidential Communication by Joshua M. Scacco and Eric C. Wiemer