Ping!
Americans are growing weary of the relentless stream of campaign calls and text messages, according to a new poll. Many voters say candidates who flood their phones could pay a price at the polls.
A nationwide survey by phone-number management company NumberBarn found that Americans receive an average of 13 political calls and texts each week as campaigns intensify voter outreach ahead of Election Day on Nov. 3.
Six out of 10 respondents described the volume of campaign messages as “excessive” compared with previous elections.
The survey found:
“Trust may be one of the biggest challenges facing political outreach,” NumberBarn said in its analysis of the results.
“Nearly 8 in 10 Americans (79%) say they do not trust the accuracy of the information they receive through political calls and texts. Political calls and texts are unlikely to disappear anytime soon, but the findings suggest that more messages do not necessarily mean more influence, trust, or engagement.”
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For Americans at the end of their patience, stopping the campaign barrage has meant taking more drastic steps.
Twenty-six percent said they pay a one-time fee to permanently block campaign calls and texts, while 57% have stopped answering calls from unknown numbers.
Another 23% use a “silence unknown callers” feature. During the busiest part of election season, 10% said they turn off their phones or activate “Do Not Disturb,” and 3% said they changed their phone number.
More than half of respondents, 51%, said political texts should go only to people who opt in beforehand. An additional 20% said campaigns should send substantially fewer messages.
“As Americans grow accustomed to screening unknown numbers, blocking spam texts, and questioning the origin of every message — whether it’s a candidate, a scammer, or AI — reaching a voter’s phone is getting easier, but winning their attention remains the real battle,” the poll analysis said.
In September 2026, NumberBarn surveyed 1,006 U.S. adults to gauge how Americans view political calls, text messages, and other election-related communication ahead of the 2026 midterm election. It has a margin of error plus or minus percentage points.
NumberBarn is a telecommunications service provider specializing in phone number management, including purchasing, parking, transferring and forwarding phone numbers.
