HEALTH CARE REFORM Congressional Social Media Influencer Analysis September 2017 INTRODUCTION & METHODOLOGY
The Senate HELP Committee launched the first of four hearings scheduled for September this week and Republicans are looking to get a small, bipartisan bill passed to stabilize the insurance markets for 2018, signaling that the health care debate is far from over. But for the keen political observer, a look back at this summer’s health care fight foreshadows what’s to come on tax reform and other key legislative fights this fall.
As organizations seek to craft smart public affairs campaigns, PG Digital thought we’d do a little post-recess quarterbacking. Using a proprietary data analysis technique, we took a look at the online conversations around the recent health care debate to find out who and what matters online.
The following document examines Twitter activity by members of Congress to reveal the key news outlets, third-party groups and individuals with influence over the health care reform conversation on Capitol Hill.
• PG Digital analyzed all Twitter posts about health care (including subjects such as the ACA, AHCA, BRCA and more) from members of Congress (both official and campaign accounts) between Jan. 1 and July 31, 2017.
• Counting and categorizing the accounts tagged by direct mention or retweet, PG Digital uncovered the users most- frequently interacted with and shared by Republican and Democratic legislators, from television shows and newspapers to beat reporters and advocacy networks.
2 KEY INSIGHTS & FINDINGS
• CNN remains relevant on both sides of the aisle. Both congressional Republicans and Democrats shared a large volume of health care content from CNN and its reporters such as Jake Tapper and Wolf Blitzer.
• Republicans dominated engagement with broadcast and cable TV. When sharing health care content from TV networks and shows (typically to promote their own appearances), Republican lawmakers engage with all three major cable channels (including MSNBC) and all popular Sunday shows. Comparatively, Democrats rarely engage with Fox News and are less likely to post about Sunday show appearances.
• Republicans are concentrated around Fox News. On Twitter, Republicans shared health care items from Fox News and Fox Business Network three times as often as the next most popular media outlet, rarely engaging with smaller conservative publications such as the National Review, Daily Caller or Breitbart.
• Individual liberal advocacy leaders and politicos are more vocal and engaged online with Democratic policymakers than their conservative counterparts are to Republicans. From Andy Slavitt at the Bipartisan Policy Center and Cecile Richards of Planned Parenthood to Chris Hayes at MSNBC and Jon Favreau of Crooked Media, Democrats in Congress had a large roster of popular individuals and personalities to engage with on Twitter around health care. Republicans, on the other hand, shared and tagged fewer individual journalists, think tank analysts, former political staffers and activists, in favor of conservative institutions and broad policy advocacy brands themselves.
• Beltway publications, ranked. On health care, members of Congress shared and tagged The Hill the most among traditionally DC- focused outlets. The Washington Post and Politico ranked second and third.
3 KEY INSIGHTS & FINDINGS
• Democrats engage new media. As their Republican colleagues stuck to media mainstays such as the Wall Street Journal and Fox Business Network, Democrats frequently shared or tagged items from lesser-known, digital outlets such as Vox, Cheddar and NowThis as they looked to reach a younger, more engaged online audience.
• Quantity speaks volumes. Democrats posted nearly twice as often than Republicans about health care on Twitter in 2017. Democratic lawmakers mentioned health care more than 21,000 times on the platform compared to 10,000 Republican tweets.
• Cable news reigns supreme. With the exception of George Stephanopoulos from ABC, no network news anchors or correspondents made the list of top media figures shared by policymakers on either side of the aisle.
• Democrats adopted more of a choir strategy. Democrats’ media strategy was to play largely to the home team, sharing content primarily from influencers and outlets preferred by their base, while Republicans cast a wider net, speaking to more politically diverse audiences on a more mainstream and diverse set of platforms and outlets.
4 HEALTH CARE INFLUENCERS: THIRD-PARTY GROUPS AND INDIVIDUALS
To p T h i r d -Party Groups and Individuals Shared or Mentioned on Twitter by To p T h i r d -Party Groups and Individuals Shared or Mentioned on Twitter by Congressional Democrats in Relation to Health Care; Jan – Jul, 2017 Congressional Republicans in Relation to Health Care; Jan – Jul, 2017
Center for American Planned Parenthood Freedom Works Restore Accountability Progress Andy Slavitt Center on Budget United Mine Workers Grover Nordquist Bipartisan Policy Center and Policy Priorities of America Americans for Tax Reform Avik Roy National Federation of AARP American Academy Foundation for Research of Pediatrics Independent Businesses on Equal Opportunity American Medical National Right to Indivisible Guide Heritage Foundation Association Life Committee Michael Cannon Kaiser Family Foundation MoveOn.org Jim DeMint Conservative Partnership Institute Cato Institute
4 HEALTH CARE INFLUENCERS: MEDIA OUTLETS
Top Media Outlets Shared or Mentioned on Twitter by Congressional Top Media Outlets Shared or Mentioned on Twitter by Congressional Democrats in Relation to Health Care; Jan – Jul, 2017 Republicans in Relation to Health Care; Jan – Jul, 2017
MSNBC Washington Post Fox News Wall Street Journal
The Hill Politico Fox Business Network The Hill
CNN NowThis MSNBC Meet the Press
New York Times Cheddar CNN Face the Nation
Vox Slate Washington Examiner Washington Post
5 HEALTH CARE INFLUENCERS: MEDIA FIGURES
Top Media Figures Shared or Mentioned on Twitter by Congressional Top Media Figures Shared Or Mentioned On Twitter By Congressional Democrats in Relation to Health Care; Jan – Jul, 2017 Republicans In Relation to Healthcare; Jan – Jul, 2017
Sarah Kliff Chris Hayes Neil Cavuto Wolf Blitzer Vox MSNBC Fox Business Network CNN Dan Diamond Jon Favreau Maria Bartiromo Jake Tapper Politico Crooked Media Fox Business Network CNN Jimmy Kimmel Ali Velshi Sean Hannity Liz Claman ABC MSNBC Fox News Fox Business Network Kyle Griffin Matt Fuller Hugh Hewitt Lou Dobbs MSNBC Huffington Post The Hugh Hewitt Show, MSNBC Fox Business Network Alice Ollstein Sahil Kapur Greta Van Susteren George Stephanopoulos Talking Points Memo Bloomberg Author, Former MSNBC Anchor ABC
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