quorum quarterly: measuring legislative activity and ... · the second section, social media...
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Quorum Quarterly:
Measuring Legislative Activity and Social Media Trends in Q1 of 2018
Methodology:The data and analysis featured in this report was made possible through Quorum’s comprehensive database of legislative information and powerful analytics.
The first section, Legislative Activity, analyzes congressional data from 1998 to 2018 to identify how the activity in the first 15 months of the 115th Congress compares to that of the past ten Congresses.
The second section, Social Media Trends, analyzes the official Twitter accounts of members of Congress to identify trending hashtags used, key influencers mentioned by legislators, and most active members on the major social platforms in Q1 of 2018.
www.quorum.us
Legislative ActivityComparing the first 15 months of legislative activity in the 115th Congress to the past ten Congresses
www.quorum.us
Insight #1:Bills are passing out of House committees at a
higher rate than any of the past ten Congresses.
www.quorum.us
0%
4%
8%
12%
16%
20%
1998 2000 2002 2004 2006 2008 2010 2012 2014 2016 2018
House Senate
Percent of Bills Passed out of Committee
12.6%
10.9%
@QuorumAnalyticsData from the start of a Congress to the end of Q1 of the second legislative session.
www.quorum.us
Insight #2:House Democrats are passing a higher percentage
of bills out of the House than they have since losing the majority following the 2010 midterms.
www.quorum.us
Percent of House Bills Passed out of the House
0%
4%
8%
12%
16%
1998 2000 2002 2004 2006 2008 2010 2012 2014 2016 2018
15%
12%11%
9%
7%6%
9%
12%11%11%
12%
5%4%
2%2%
10%
13%
3%4%
3%4%
2%
Democrat Republican
@QuorumAnalyticsData from the start of a Congress to the end of Q1 of the second legislative session.
www.quorum.us
Insight #3:Senate Republicans are passing bills out of the
chamber at their highest rate since 2006.
www.quorum.us
Percent of Senate Bills Passed out of the Senate
0%
2%
4%
6%
8%
10%
12%
14%
1998 2000 2002 2004 2006 2008 2010 2012 2014 2016 2018
8%
6%
3%3%
1%
4%
11%
13%
6%
13%
10%
4%
3%
4%4%3%
4%
5%5%5%
4%3%
Democrat Republican
@QuorumAnalyticsData from the start of a Congress to the end of Q1 of the second legislative session.
www.quorum.us
Insight #4:The percentage of bills being passed out of both chambers of Congress has been on a
six-year rise.
www.quorum.us
0%
2%
4%
6%
8%
10%
12%
1998 2000 2002 2004 2006 2008 2010 2012 2014 2016 2018
House Senate
Percent of Bills Passed out of Chamber
10%
5.5%
@QuorumAnalyticsData from the start of a Congress to the end of Q1 of the second legislative session.
www.quorum.us
Insight #5:While legislation in the Senate is slightly more
likely to have bipartisan cosponsors, both chambers introduce bipartisan legislation
approximately 25 percent of the time.
www.quorum.us
Percent of Legislation with Bipartisan Cosponsors
0%
8%
16%
24%
32%
40%
1998 2000 2002 2004 2006 2008 2010 2012 2014 2016 2018
House Senate
25.3%
23.1%
@QuorumAnalyticsData from the start of a Congress to the end of Q1 of the second legislative session.
www.quorum.us
Insight #6:President Trump is signing legislation originating in the Senate more frequently than President Obama did in 2016, but he is signing legislation introduced in the House less frequently than his predecessor.
www.quorum.us
Percent of Bills Introduced Signed by the President
0%
1%
2%
3%
4%
1998 2000 2002 2004 2006 2008 2010 2012 2014 2016 2018
House Senate
2%
1.6%
@QuorumAnalyticsData from the start of a Congress to the end of Q1 of the second legislative session.
www.quorum.us
Insight #7:President Trump has signed 160 bills into law since taking office—the highest at this point in
a congressional term since 2008.
www.quorum.us
Number of Bills Signed by the President
0
50
100
150
200
250
1998 2000 2002 2004 2006 2008 2010 2012 2014 2016 2018
4450
2526
43
536266
36
5357
11695
6775
108
145149143120129
112
House Senate
160145
92101
151
198211209
156182
169
@QuorumAnalyticsData from the start of a Congress to the end of Q1 of the second legislative session.
www.quorum.us
Social Media TrendsAnalyzing the top hashtags used by members of
Congress on Twitter, the most frequently mentioned and retweeted accounts by legislators, and the most active legislators on the top social
media platforms.
www.quorum.us
Insight #8:Republicans’ most popular message on Twitter
during Q1 was tax reform; for Democrats, DACA/Dreamers was the most popular.
www.quorum.us
#sotu
#trumpshutdown
#dreamers
#goptaxscam
#neveragain
#daca
#netneutrality
#protectdreamers
#dreamactnow
#blackhistorymonth 624
640
766
843
904
961
1,008
1,322
1,334
1,854
Democrats
@QuorumAnalytics
Top Hashtags Used by Congress in Q1 of 2018
#taxreform
#sotu
#taxcutsandjobsact
#schumershutdown
#utpol
#puertorico
#releasethememo
#chip
#daca
#az05 225
251
258
265
265
467
1,219
1,361
1,601
2,015
Republicans
Number of mentions on Twitter since 1/1/18 by Republicans and Democrats
www.quorum.us
Insight #9:#goptaxscam and #protectdreamers were the only hashtags Democrats used that made the
top ten in January, February, and March.
www.quorum.us@QuorumAnalytics
Ranked by number of mentions on Twitter per month by Democrats
January February March1) #sotu #blackhistorymonth #womenshistorymonth
2) #trumpshutdown #netneutrality #neveragain
3) #dreamers #dreamers #marchforourlives
4) #daca #trumpbudget #nationalwalkoutday
5) #goptaxscam #neveragain #endgunviolence
6) #dreamactnow #goptaxscam #enoughisenough
7) #protectdreamers #maxinewaters #goptaxscam
8) #chip #savetheinternet #internationalwomensday
9) #netneutrality #endgunviolence #daca
10) #mlkday #protectdreamers #protectdreamers
Top Hashtags Used by Democrats in Q1 of 2018
www.quorum.us
Insight #10:#taxreform and #taxcutsandjobsact were the
only hashtags Republicans used that made the top ten in January, February, and March.
www.quorum.us
January February March1) #sotu #taxreform #taxreform
2) #schumershutdown #taxcutsandjobsact #taxcutsandjobsact
3) #taxreform #utpol #stopschoolviolenceact
4) #taxcutsandjobsact #puertorico #womenshistorymonth
5) #chip #az05 #nationalagday
6) #releasethememo #blackhistorymonth #sesta
7) #utpol #daca #utpol
8) #marchforlife #checkyourcheck #relief4mainstreet
9) #prolife #va10 #righttotry
10) #daca #teamusa #omnibus
@QuorumAnalytics
Top Hashtags Used by Republicans in Q1 of 2018Ranked by number of mentions on Twitter per month by Republicans
www.quorum.us
Insight #11:Four of the top five news accounts mentioned by Republicans on Twitter were Fox News programs.
www.quorum.us@QuorumAnalytics
Most Mentioned News Outlets or Reporters by Congress in Q1 of 2018
@foxnews
@foxbusiness
@foxandfriends
@wsj
@varneyco
@dcexaminer
@thehill
@mariabartiromo
@hughhewitt
@cspan 69
70
76
83
86
88
99
152
447
717
Republicans
@cnn
@thedailybeast
@msnbc
@thehill
@maddow
@angela_rye
@nytimes
@aprildryan
@vice
@washingtonpost 100
114
126
134
137
199
204
316
324
354
Democrats
Number of mentions on Twitter since 1/1/18 by Republicans and Democrats
www.quorum.us
Insight #12:Of the top ten most retweeted news
organizations by Democrats and Republicans, only two of the 19 organizations mentioned
work in print media.
www.quorum.us@QuorumAnalytics
@FoxNews
@FoxBusiness
@foxandfriends
@CNBC
@dcexaminer
@AmericaNewsroom
@FaceTheNation
@LouDobbs
@AP
@thehill 23
24
25
28
29
33
36
56
160
359
Republicans
@thehill
@nowthisnews
@kylegriffin1
@CNN
@MSNBC
@AC360
@NBCNews
@CNNPolitics
@ABC
@CBSNews 38
39
44
47
54
62
68
71
86
162
Democrats
Number of retweets on Twitter since 1/1/18 by Republicans and Democrats
Most Retweeted News Outlets or Reporters by Congress in Q1 of 2018
www.quorum.us
Insight #13:Eight of the ten most active senators on
Facebook are Democrats. Freshman Rep. Ro Khanna (D-CA-17) leads the House and Sen.
Bernie Sanders (I-VT) leads the Senate.
www.quorum.us@QuorumAnalytics
Most Active Members of Congress on Facebook
Khanna (D-CA-17)
O'Rourke (D-TX-16)
King (R-IA-4)
Blackburn (R-TN-7)
Polis (D-CO-2)
Renacci (R-OH-16)
Beyer (D-VA-8)
Crowley (D-NY-14)
Ros-Lehtinen (R-FL-27)
Delaney (D-MD-6) 392
407
418
449
461
495
584
617
645
827 Sanders (I-VT)
Heitkamp (D-ND)
Brown (D-OH)
Harris (D-CA)
Stabenow (D-MI)
Donnelly (D-IN)
Kaine (D-VA)
Murphy (D-CT)
Rubio (R-FL)
Murkowski (R-AK) 195
197
199
200
221
236
254
259
261
758
Number of posts on Facebook since 1/1/18
House Senate
www.quorum.us
Insight #14:Eight of the top ten most active representatives
on Twitter are Democrats. The most active representative tweeted twice as often as the
most active senator.
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Most Active Members of Congress on Twitter
Clay (D-MO-1)
Beyer (D-VA-8)
Waters (D-CA-43)
Jayapal (D-WA-7)
Byrne (R-AL-1)
Castro (D-TX-20)
Khanna (D-CA-17)
Ros-Lehtinen (R-FL-27)
Espaillat (D-NY-13)
Ellison (D-MN-5) 828
855
898
934
959
1,059
1,375
1,496
1,759
2,199 Whitehouse (D-RI)
Cornyn (R-TX)
Rubio (R-FL)
Smith (D-MN)
Murray (D-WA)
Markey (D-MA)
Hatch (R-UT)
Portman (R-OH)
Booker (D-NJ)
Schumer (D-NY) 745
762
778
806
809
824
880
932
999
1,004
Number of tweets and retweets from official accounts since 1/1/18
House Senate
www.quorum.us
Insight #15:Amongst the top ten most active Instagram users
in Congress, there is an even split between Democrats and Republicans in both chambers.
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Most Active Members of Congress on Instagram
Bustos (D-IL-17)
Noem (R-SD-1)
Rogers (R-AL-3)
O'Rourke (D-TX-16)
Stefanik (R-NY-21)
Crowley (D-NY-14)
Hice (R-GA-10)
Olson (R-TX-22)
Maloney (D-NY-12)
Payne (D-NJ-10) 83
83
94
95
95
100
125
131
132
145 Grassley (R-IA)
Harris (D-CA)
Sanders (I-VT)
Hoeven (R-ND)
Menendez (D-NJ)
Booker (D-NJ)
Fischer (R-NE)
Murkowski (R-AK)
Warner (D-VA)
Barrasso (R-WY) 45
46
50
50
52
65
69
82
121
145
Number of posts on Instagram from official accounts since 1/1/18
House Senate
Quorum Quarterly:
Measuring Legislative Activity and Social Media Trends in Q1 of 2018