Romney supporters more likely to follow presidential campaign on new media

Despite his reputation as a pioneer of social media campaigning, President Barack Obama may be influencing fewer voters through 21st century technology than his Republican rival Mitt Romney, according to new research undertaken by Mindshare.

The Mindshare press release commented that on the back of a tough week for Romney when he slipped in the polls following Hurricane Sandy, the results of the survey could provide some good news for the Presidential hopeful.

However, Obama is, with most bookmakers, 1/5 on and Romney is 7/2 against so there is a considerable amount of money that points to the contest not being as tight as the media are speculating.

The Mindshare study says that television continues to be the dominant news resource for following the election. The research reveals that Republicans are more likely to use new media, including Facebook and Twitter and are also more likely to follow election news on their mobile phone.

While newspapers remain an important source of information and analysis, slightly more Americans are following the presidential election via video coverage on their computer than by reading the national newspapers, showing an appetite for up-to-the-minute news as opposed to daily updates at this important time. Of course many of the newspaper sites are benefitting from this trend.

Word of mouth was found to be more important for influencing swing voters than decided voters, so this increased inclination towards social media activity is important.

Mindshare global head of digital, Scott Sorokin, said: “With only hours to go until the election, President Obama still has work to do if he is to gain influence through social media channels. He has significantly more followers than Mitt Romney but if Republican voters are more active on social media as our survey suggests, they’re more likely to be engaging with undecided voters via social media channels and that could be vital on election day.”

Sorokin added: “Digital campaigning is here to stay and with the lines between television and social media becoming ever more blurred, using insights and data to target your audiences becomes an increasingly valuable tool in order to spend marketing budgets efficiently.”