What Does the Election Mean for Tech?

Few analysts would describe the recent elections as an upheaval. President Obama’s election to a second term, accompanied by Republicans retaining control of the House and Democrats maintaining the majority in the Senate, means the government will look much like it did pre-election.

During a webinar on November 19, TechAmerica public policy analysts offered up their assessment of how the nation-wide contest on November 6, deemed the “status quo” election, will impact technology policy. Technology was called “transformational” in the 2012 election, as evidenced by the sharp spike in election-related social media activity, cited as a critical voter outreach tool. Not surprisingly, 2012 was the most tweeted U.S. election to date, with 327,000 tweets per minute on election night. TechAmerica analysts noted that official party platforms from both Republicans and Democrats devoted more space than ever before to technology and telecommunications policy. Technology issues are expected to continue as a major focus area in Obama’s second term. Technology priorities are expected to remain fairly consistent over the next two years, since the election did not bring a major shift in power for the executive or legislative branches. Divided government, however, will continue to hamper the passage of major policy changes related to technology.