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The state of GMOs on social media

An analysis of state-level variables and discourse on Twitter in the United States

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  03 September 2020

Christopher D. Wirz Open the ORCID record for Christopher D. Wirz [Opens in a new window] ,
Emily L. Howell Open the ORCID record for Emily L. Howell [Opens in a new window] ,
Dominique Brossard ,
Michael A. Xenos  and
Dietram A. Scheufele
Christopher D. Wirz*
Affiliation:
University of Wisconsin–Madison
Emily L. Howell
Affiliation:
University of Wisconsin–Madison
Dominique Brossard
Affiliation:
University of Wisconsin–Madison; Morgridge Institute for Research
Michael A. Xenos
Affiliation:
University of Wisconsin–Madison
Dietram A. Scheufele
Affiliation:
University of Wisconsin–Madison; Morgridge Institute for Research
*
Corresponding author: Christopher D. Wirz, University of Wisconsin–Madison, Madison, WI. Email: cwirz@wisc.edu
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Abstract

This study analyzes the relationship between state-level variables and Twitter discourse on genetically modified organisms (GMOs). Using geographically identified tweets related to GMOs, we examined how the sentiments expressed about GMOs related to education levels, news coverage, proportion of rural and urban counties, state-level political ideology, amount of GMO-related legislation introduced, and agricultural dependence of each U.S. state. State-level characteristics predominantly did not predict the sentiment of the discourse. Instead, the topics of tweets predicted the majority of variance in tweet sentiment at the state level. The topics that tweets within a state focused on were related to state-level characteristics in some cases.

Keywords

content analysisscience communicationgenetic engineering
Type
Article
Information
Politics and the Life Sciences , Volume 40 , Issue 1 , Spring 2021 , pp. 40 - 55
Copyright
© The Author(s) 2020. Published by Cambridge University Press on behalf of Association for Politics and the Life Sciences

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