The Role of Agentic Language in Mobilizing Election Candidate Support

Agency, pertaining to planning and executing actions, is a core feature of the political landscape. Our study examines the temporal dynamics of agentic language in political online discourse during the 2020 U.S. Congressional Elections, spanning 180 days before and after Election Day, and before the Capitol Hill riots. We coded 495,252 messages posted by Democratic and Republican candidates on Twitter for agentic language, which was more prevalent in tweets of politicians who won elections. Temporal analyses revealed increased agency as critical political events approached, whether a planned democratic event (Election Day) or a sudden disruptive protest (Capitol riots). The study enhances our understanding of the role of agency expression in political social media communication. Politicians may strive to evoke agency among voters to encourage political engagement, and voters may be cautioned by our results about this subtle (possibly unaware) manipulative strategy.