As we veer toward Missouri鈥檚 general election cycle, I鈥檝e noticed that there鈥檚 a very, very popular way for campaigns to try to connect to voters: text messaging.
On the day before Missouri鈥檚 primary, I received a flood of text messages from candidates for governor, lieutenant governor, treasurer, secretary of state and attorney general.
Some of the texts were fairly general: "Hey, vote for Candidate A because Candidate A is going to make Missouri amazing!鈥� Others sought to bring down their adversaries, with some gubernatorial candidates even attaching video files of nasty attack ads.
In some respects, this strategy was effective at getting my attention 鈥� especially since our household got rid of cable a year ago and I don鈥檛 watch much television. But the texting became so frequent near the end of the campaign that I seriously thought about throwing my phone in the River Des Peres to escape the deluge of rhetoric.
Thankfully, I resisted that urge to destroy my phone. I wouldn鈥檛 want to deprive 漏 2024 外网天堂鈥檚 audience of Instagram videos that have at the State Fair and with the new clothes steamer that my mother-in-law purchased for me for my 40th birthday.
But I digress.
It appears I wasn鈥檛 alone in my frustration. earlier this month asking our listeners if they鈥檝e received a lot of political text messages. And the response was frankly overwhelming 鈥� overwhelmingly negative:
Yes, I keep texting 鈥渟top鈥� but many of them don鈥檛 stop, the same message frequently just comes from a different number. As a former candidate, I understand the need to get one鈥檚 message out, but this election it has been out of control. Especially the negative ads.
— Sara Rachel Walsh (@SaraForMissouri)
YES. And I鈥檓 a longtime Democratic voter who鈥檚 been getting Republican texts for gubernatorial, AG, and SoS races. Why waste their money on me!
— Amy K. H. - Joyful Warrior Princess (@akhammerman)
I have! Both parties, on about the same pace as you. I hate it but I鈥檓 kinda impressed!
— Deerwood Realty, with enthusiasm (@DeerwoodRealty)
Some elected officials say texting is a more cost-effective version of campaign mailers 鈥� since the major financial outlay here is obtaining a list of phone numbers. State Sen. Travis Fitzwater of Callaway County : 鈥淚'm an aggressive 鈥楽top鈥� replier to these. It's why I only get a few here and there anymore. But, we did use it in our campaign two years ago with decent returns, but we used them with engaging content not just text. So, I get why they're used.鈥�
A growing trend
James Harris is a Republican political consultant. Many of his candidates in this year鈥檚 primary cycle used text messaging. Some texts contained full advertisements while others may have included messaging that appear on mailers.
Harris said candidates use text messages for a simple reason: They get people鈥檚 attention.
鈥淲e're almost like Pavlov's dog now, if the phone vibrates, we check it, right?鈥� Harris said. 鈥淢ost people have their phone either in their pocket within arm's reach, in a bag or in a purse. And many people sleep with their phones nearby as they continue maybe to cut the cords from traditional land-based phones. And so, we know from a political perspective, voters have those phones in close proximity to them. So it makes it a great avenue to communicate with them.鈥�
Harris added that the way campaigns are texting changed over the past few election cycles. It was only relatively recently that campaigns included photos or graphics in their messages. Now, he said, campaigns are including videos of campaign advertisements 鈥� primarily because a lot of voters switched from cable to streaming services.
But Harris also acknowledges that texting can turn voters off 鈥� especially if they鈥檙e too frequent or they鈥檙e too negative. And he also conceded that they may not always reach people they need to turn out in elections.
鈥淥ne of the challenges with texting is depending on the voter file and the data you're getting, potentially a third to 35% of cell numbers are not accurate, so it's not a complete match,鈥� Harris said.
One other downside? Harris points out that Android phones filter certain text messages as spam. That feature isn鈥檛 available for the iPhone yet, but given how Apple seems to copy a lot of Android features 鈥� a filter is probably just around the corner. And there are also Federal Communications Commission rules in place that could give campaigns pause
But for now, political text messaging is here to stay 鈥� and may come back with a vengeance as Nov. 5 creeps closer.
Hopefully, I can have enough self-control so that my phone stays by my side instead of in the Mississippi River.
鈥�鈥� brings you the stories of St. Louis and the people who live, work and create in our region. The show is produced by Ulaa Kuziez, , , , and . The audio engineer is . Send questions and comments about this story to talk@stlpr.org.
