In an increasingly tech-savvy age, it's no surprise politicians have begun using Facebook pages, e-mail alerts and even Twitter to communicate with their constituents.
But according to a study of each U.S. senator's "Digital IQ", conducted by Stern clinical associate professor of marketing Scott Galloway and dean Doug Guthrie of the George Washington University School of Business, Republicans are more digitally savvy than Democrats.
Galloway said the study looked at various social media platforms, including YouTube, Twitter and Facebook. Researchers derived the Digital IQ of senators by compiling the gross number of followers, likes and views and examining "how robust and fresh the content is."
He said many people credit President Obama's win to his followers on social media networks, adding that the recently elected Senator Scott Brown of Massachusetts also had a strong online following.
"It seems, so far, there is a correlation between social media traction and the likelihood of winning," Galloway said.
Secretary of the NYU College Democrats Josh Schneier agreed that social media has a large impact on political campaigning.
"I think that one merely needs to look at the extensive network of volunteers, donations and energy that the Obama election campaign was able to mobilize utilizing social media to see just how important of a role social media plays in current politics," he said, adding that the importance of social media applies to both Democrats and Republicans.
The study found that conservative senators are more digitally competent than liberal ones, which Galloway called "the most striking finding."
"So the more conservative the higher the Digital IQ, which lends you to believe the Republicans will probably do very well in the fall," Galloway said.
The reason for the GOP's high Digital IQ? According to Galloway, they're simply "trying harder."
NYU College Republicans president Andrea Catsimatidis, meanwhile, attributes the GOP's tech savvy to a lack of genuine effort on the other side of the aisle.
"For myriad reasons, young people tend to lean to the left. This allows Democratic senators to outsource the maintenance of their electronic media to their younger staffers," she said. "The net result is that the senators themselves know precious little about the functionality of these media."
