In recent years, usage of text messages sent by political parties and candidates to potential voters has been on the rise. Such messages may also offer response options, which create bilateral communications with potential voters. This article examines responsiveness to political text messages during election campaigns and the factors that affect such responsiveness, using a natural experiment in which the campaign headquarters of 3 municipal candidates sent text messages to the residents of 3 municipalities. Findings indicate that response rates ranged from 4% to 18%, which approximate the response rates to marketing campaigns and other forms of text-based political participation. Age and gender did not have a significant effect on response rates, but message personalization (texts that include recipient identity) and response mode (text reply/landing page) did. These findings offer new empirical evidence of certain patterns of mobile interactions that encourage political participation.

中文翻译：

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智能手机、短信和政治参与

近年来，政党和候选人向潜在选民发送短信的使用率呈上升趋势。此类消息还可提供响应选项，从而与潜在选民建立双边通信。本文通过一个自然实验来检验竞选期间对政治短信的响应能力以及影响这种响应能力的因素，其中 3 名市政候选人的竞选总部向 3 个市政当局的居民发送短信。调查结果表明，响应率在 4% 到 18% 之间，这接近于对营销活动和其他形式的基于文本的政治参与的响应率。年龄和性别对反应率没有显着影响，但是消息个性化（包含收件人身份的文本）和响应模式（文本回复/登陆页面）做到了。这些发现为某些鼓励政治参与的移动交互模式提供了新的经验证据。