• by Ray Schultz , August 22, 2019

Kamala Harris has sent more emails than any other Democratic candidate — 291 million — exceeding even President Donald Trump, with 101 million. But her inbox percentage is only 68%, and her read rate is 21%, according to Decision 2020: Email from the Presidential Contenders, a study released on Thursday by eDataSource.   

In contrast, Joe Biden has 75% inbox placement and a 32% read rate, placing second in the latter metric to Pete Buttigieg, who has 34%. Amy Klobuchar is tied with Biden with 32%. 

Bernie Sanders, who has sent 98 million emails, has the highest inbox rate among the Democrats: 85%, perhaps because he has nurtured this list since the 2016 campaign. 

However, the Trump campaign has a 93% placement rate. Trump’s read rate is 25%.

Harris also has the biggest estimated email audience: 4.9 million, exceeding even Trump’s 4.7 million. Among the Democrats, Biden comes closest, with 3.9 million and Sanders is third with 3.4 million. But it is the quality of the list that counts.

In current polling, Harris has 8% of the Democratic vote, compared with 31% for Biden, 17% for Warren and 16% for Sanders.

Elizabeth Warren, although high-ranking as a candidate, generates only an 18% read rate, perhaps because her messages are laden with policy details. Her campaign has sent 85 million emails. 

Sanders and O’Rourke are tied for the fourth-highest read rate at 26%. Booker is second with 29%, and Trump has a 21% read rate. 

The study tracks 30-day email activity and performance data for the eight top Democratic candidates and President Trump.

It found a marked overlap between some of the campaigns. For instance, all of the supporters to each campaign are getting mail from Harris. That includes 53% of Beta O’Rourke’s email audience and 48% of Cory Booker’s and 22% of Biden’s.

But Joe Biden voters are getting mail only from Harris, whereas Amy Klobuchar’s contacts are getting mail from Biden, Harris, O’Rourke and Sanders.

The subject lines vary by intent. Inspirational subject lines include:

“We are in a battle for the soul of this nation” (Biden) 

“If we win Texas, we win the White House” (O’Rourke)

“The best chance of beating Donald Trump (Klobuchar)

Then there are the policy-driven lines:

“My plan to protect our communities from gun violence” (Warren)

“What happened when we went to buy insulin in Canada” (Sanders)

Finally, there are the chummy subject lines: 

“Come to South Bend! Join me for pizza?” (Buttigieg)

In contrast, the Trump campaign’s subject lines sound like his tweets: “Look what the Libs did…” Others offer campaign souvenirs: “The first ever signed KAG Hat”).

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