The 2014 US midterm elections are decidedly more social and mobile than the last time around, according to a new report.
Voters are using social networks like Facebook and Twitter far more than in the 2010 midterms, and mobile phones are playing a more important role, a report Monday from Pew Research Center said.
About 28 percent of registered US voters have used their cell phone to keep up with news relating to the election or political events this year — double the rate of 2010, Pew said.
And 16 percent said they used social media to follow a candidate or get information on a campaign — up from six percent four years earlier.
The use of new technologies is growing for both Republicans and Democrats, said Pew researcher Aaron Smith.
“Voters from both parties place a similar emphasis on the deeper connections that social media allows them to form with the candidates they support,” Smith said in a blog post.
Smith added that “mobile election news consumers” are more active than other Americans in many political activities.
“They are more likely to have encouraged people they know to vote or support a particular candidate,” he said.
Those who follow political figures on
