Tweeting About Climate: Which Politicians Speak Up and What Do They Speak Up About?

Chao Yu*, Drew B. Margolin, Jennifer R. Fownes, Danielle L. Eiseman, Allison M. Chatrchyan, Shorna B. Allred

*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

10 Scopus citations

Abstract

This study examines tweets (N = 1,103,119) sent by 638 US politicians regarding climate change (N = 10,135). Using data reflecting the risks faced and opinions held by their constituents, the extent to which politicians lead—tweeting about climate change for those most at risk, called trusteeship—or follow—tweeting about climate change for those who are already concerned, called playing to the crowed—is examined. Results reveal that while Democrats generally tweet about climate change more often than Republicans, within each party, tweeting frequency is mostly explained by the level of concern in a politicians’ constituency. Objective risks faced by constituents play no role. Analysis of behavior across different office levels—federal, state, and local—also shows that while federal politicians are more partisan, state and local politicians play to the crowd to a greater degree. Analysis of the tweets shows the politicians’ unequal engagement leads to over-representations of some topics (e.g., “calls for action”) and under-representations of other topics (e.g., criticizing fossil fuels and deniers).

Original languageEnglish (US)
JournalSocial Media and Society
Volume7
Issue number3
DOIs
StatePublished - 2021

Keywords

  • climate change
  • politics
  • topic modeling
  • Twitter

ASJC Scopus subject areas

  • Cultural Studies
  • Communication
  • Computer Science Applications

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