PLoS ONE (Jan 2018)

A note on internet use and the 2016 U.S. presidential election outcome.

  • Levi Boxell,
  • Matthew Gentzkow,
  • Jesse M Shapiro

DOI
https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0199571
Journal volume & issue
Vol. 13, no. 7
p. e0199571

Abstract

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We use data from the American National Election Studies from 1996 to 2016 to study the role of the internet in the 2016 U.S. presidential election outcome. We compare trends in the Republican share of the vote between likely and unlikely internet users, and between actual internet users and non-users. Relative to prior years, the Republican share of the vote in 2016 was as high or higher among the groups least active online.