Toxicity and U.S. Senate candidate Twitter messaging in the 2022 election

Social media has had a transformative effect on politics and governance. While research into the consequences of social media use on politics and governance is mixed, elected officials and political candidates commonly use multiple social media channels to grow constituencies and draw attention to their agenda. A well-crafted social media strategy can further the perception of a candidate or elected official as credible, trustworthy, and able to effectively govern. However, research into social media has suggested that engagement is often driven by toxic and negative content, limiting the possibility of productive political discourse. Using a dataset of posts from 58 U.S. Senate candidates on Twitter, this study seeks to determine whether social media-based political communication during the 2022 election aligns with preexisting perceptions of toxicity. The results suggest that the toxicity of candidates’ Twitter-based political communication is mostly low, though temporal and group differences were found. This case study provides a basis for further investigation into candidates’ strategic use of social media.