Most voters received campaign ‘robocalls’

WASHINGTON – Almost two-thirds of voters received unsolicited telephone calls during the final weeks of November’s midterm campaign, with Republican phones ringing the most.

Among all voters, 64 percent of voters said they received prerecorded telephone calls – or so-called “robocalls.” One in four voters said they received a phone call from a live person during the final two months of the campaign, and 71 percent of voters reported receiving campaign mail, according to the survey released Wednesday by the nonpartisan Pew Internet and American Life Project.

“The advantage of robocalls is that someone has picked up the phone. With direct mail, you can’t be sure it doesn’t wind up in the wastebasket,” said Pew Director Lee Rainie. “It will be interesting to see if robocalls take over direct mail.”

The National Republican Campaign Committee, the elections arm for U.S. House GOP candidates, spent at least $2.1 million on robocalls in 53 competitive districts. The automated calls sparked a series of complaints – largely from Democrats – to the Federal Communication Commission for perceived violations of rules.

Registered voters were more likely to receive phone calls, the survey of 2,562 adults found. Researchers also found Republicans received more calls than Democrats or independent voters; 63 percent of Republicans said they received a robocall, compared with 58 percent of Democrats and half of independents.

“They’re just usually better first on technology stuff. Republicans were the leaders on direct mail, they were the leaders for talk radio,” Rainie said.

The postelection robocall survey is the first completed by the Pew project. The results are based on a telephone survey between Nov. 8 and Dec. 4. The survey’s margin of error is 2 percentage points.