2022 insights & analysis

The state of political messages in 2022

In 2022, Americans received 15 billion political text messages, a 158% increase from 2021. Given 2022 was the first major election cycle since 2020, it's not entirely surprising to see such a large year-over-year climb. Regardless, the spike in political SMS underscores the fact political texting is now the default campaign strategy for politicians and campaigners.

Political text messages, which typically arrive in the form of donation requests and pleas for support at the polls, are here to stay no matter how much Americans may wish them to vanish. Political calls, on the other hand, are diminishing in frequency — Americans received 384 million political calls, a 57% decrease from 2021.

Political texts skyrocket around midterms

As the 2022 midterm elections neared and campaigns made their final push, misinformation struck again. Kansas voters received anonymous text messages seeking to persuade Democrats about how to vote. Robokiller informed voters of the deceptive messages and, with the help of journalists, steered voters clear of misinformation.

This is just one of the latest examples of political misinformation by SMS. Political texting took off in 2020 and continues to be a medium political candidates use to reach voters. Unfortunately, misinformation has taken on a life of its own in the process. Americans should always stay wary of misinformation and report it.

Shortcode messaging trends

Shortcode messaging is an easy way for political candidates to reach American phones en masse. With this form of outreach, campaigns can instantly send messages to every subscriber on their list. Shortcode phone numbers are generally easy to remember and indicate to the voter which campaign is sending the message.

For the second consecutive year, Trump Alerts Program was one of the top two shortcodes, followed by Republican National Convention (RNC Alerts), which jumped to second place ahead of National Republican Senatorial Committee (NRSC Alerts).

Shortcode messaging decreased by 82% year-over-year. The drop is likely due to the overflow of messages Americans received in 2021 related to the 2020 Presidential election results, coupled with phone carriers restricting the use of shared shortcodes in the second half of 2021. Though shortcode messages were down, political messages increased due to peer-to-peer texting.

California, New York, Texas, Florida, and Illinois were the top politically texted states in 2022.

Though political calls declined in 2022, Americans in the top five most-called states were still inundated with upwards of 150 million of these calls. If you live in California, Texas, Pennsylvania, Florida, or New York, it's likely you received more than your fair share of political calls in 2022.

How to unsubscribe from political messages

Americans received more political messages in 2022 than they did in 2021, and chances are this trend won't go away anytime soon. Although political messages are not illegal, they are undoubtedly a nuisance. To unsubscribe from unwanted political messages, we suggest taking the following steps:

Reply “STOP” or ask to be removed from the campaign's list.

Contact the campaign organizer directly and ask to be removed. You can do this by calling or emailing the campaign.

Download a spam text and spam call blocker like Robokiller to stop a large percentage of political messages, rather than block phone numbers manually.

Robokiller and Textkiller are on the front lines defending Americans against unwanted calls and texts. Though political robocalls and texts aren't illegal, that doesn't mean they aren't spammy or disruptive. Robokiller believes every voter should have the right to choose whether or not they want to receive them. With 99% effective protection against these messages, our award-winning technology helps ensure you'll get only the messages you want.

Political messages and calls can be annoying, and at times unwanted. The desire to support your political party can be difficult to balance alongside your desire to not be interrupted. Robokiller's award-winning, AI-powered technology stops 99% of unwanted spam calls and texts, so everyone can live life spam-free.