Black lives matter messaging across multiple congressional communication mediums

Abstract

ABSTRACT After the murder of George Floyd in May 2020 the Black Lives Matter (BLM) movement had a second, large attention surge. Media focus intensified and public opinion of the movement was the most supportive it had ever been. Legislators got involved too, taking to their e-newsletters, Facebook, Twitter, and press releases to publicize support or opposition to the movement. Using those four mediums we ask which sorts of legislators were more or less likely to make public their position, and how these trends vary by medium. Partisanship drives the biggest differences, but that within parties, legislators with more extreme roll-call voting histories, and those from districts expressing greater perceptions of racism tend to be more likely to discuss their positions in explicit and oblique ways. Black legislators and those with greater shares of Black constituents do not seem to have distinct patterns of signaling support or opposition.