Taking Sides on Facebook: How Congressional Outreach Changed Under President Trump

The 2016 presidential election coincided with substantial shifts in the ways that members of Congress communicated with their constituents online. Democrats expressed political opposition nearly five times as much under President Donald Trump as they did during the last two years of Barack Obama’s presidency. Much of this opposition was directed at President Trump, though Democrats also increasingly opposed Republican members of Congress. Meanwhile, congressional Republicans posted in support of Trump more than twice as much as congressional Democrats posted in support of President Obama during his final two years in office. Members of Congress who expressed political opposition most often were also the most liberal or conservative. This pattern is in line with the Center’s previous research on how members of Congress express political disagreement. But the new analysis also shows that the most ideological members were also the most likely to express support for others in their party. In other words, the most liberal and conservative members of Congress both attacked those on the other side more often and were more likely to affirm their own side’s decisions and positions. Moderates, meanwhile, tended to focus most of their posts on local issues.