PHOENIX — Countless phones have buzzed, beeped, and binged, signaling millions of campaign texts sent to Arizona residents.
It's part of the all-out push from candidates, parties, and PACs to try and get you to the polls before Arizona's midterm election.
According to reports, the anti-spam company Robokiller says Arizonans received 50 million campaign texts in the past two months.
Arizonans told 12News, campaign texts are annoying.
So why do campaigns do it?
“I apologize to everyone because I know no one really likes them, but we know we are talking to a voter, and there is significant value in direct voter contact," Paul Bentz, a pollster with Arizona High Ground Consulting, said.
It is illegal to robocall cellphones. However, peer-to-peer texting is legal. With more and more people using their cellphones while registering to vote, campaigns have turned to text.
The benefit is these texts can be a direct path to voters.
“It’s immediate. You can get a text out within minutes of getting some news," Bentz said.
It's also cost-efficient. TV ads can cost thousands of dollars, while campaign signs usually cost more than $20 a pop.
“We are talking about pennies for a text,” Bentz said.
Bentz says that even if the texts are deleted, data shows most texts are read within 10 minutes of being sent.
The question is, how effective are they at convincing voters to act one way or another?
"It works more as a turn-out mechanism," Bentz said.
According to Bentz, data shows texts work better as a reminder than a way to change someone's mind. However, the popularity and strategy behind campaign texts are still being perfected.
“It’s the wild west when it comes to texts. I don’t think anyone has perfected the best strategy on how best to use them.”
Decision 2022
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