Technology
The Mobile Election: How Smartphones Will Change the 2016 Presidential Race
A person takes a smartphone photo of President Barack Obama and Vice President Joe Biden during a visit to the Community College of Allegheny County West Hills Center in Oakdale, Pa., Wednesday, April 16, 2014. The visit was to promote the administration’s Opportunity for All program to train the work force for careers in fields with a growing demand. (AP Photo/Gene J. Puskar)
(Politico) – Four years ago today, President Barack Obama was gearing up to announce his reelection campaign, Mitt Romney was leading Newt Gingrich in the polls, and roughly one out of every three American adults owned a smartphone.
You read that right: In the spring of 2011, just 35 percent of American adults owned a smartphone, according to Pew Research. The Internet and social media may have been changing politics in myriad ways, but news consumption was mostly a sedentary experience.
Today, as Hillary Clinton prepares for the formal launch of her campaign, and as Jeb Bush and Scott Walker are neck and neck in the polls, roughly two out of every three American adults, or 64 percent, own a smartphone, according to a new report from Pew.
The new mobile reality is changing the state of news and advertising, and it will also change the dynamic of American politics — especially during the 2016 campaign season, journalists and political operatives said.
