The (surprisingly interesting) story of e-mail in the 2016 presidential election

Abstract

There was more discussion of e-mails and e-mail servers in the 2016 election than any previous campaign. Yet, practically no attention was paid to the actual e-mails distributed by campaigns themselves. This study explores how presidential campaigns used e-mail as a strategic tool during the 2016 election. We collected and analyzed e-mails from all major party candidates over 10 months leading up to election day. The campaigns were organized into three categories based on how successful they were and how seriously they were run. Comparing the use of e-mail within each category and between them illuminates variation in how campaigns used e-mail, including during the primaries and the general election between Clinton and Trump. Notably, the Trump campaign e-mails were more participatory, fitting the populist theme of the campaign, and the Clinton campaign made the surprising strategic decision to stop direct e-mail communication to passive e-mail subscribers over two months before election day. Overall this study demonstrates how some strategies, such as the frequency of emailing, focus on fundraising, and consistent forms of interactions have become widely accepted norms. Further, it is clear that e-mail remains valuable for campaigns and an important subject for scholarship, despite its mundane nature.