Tweets Tell a Tale of How Cash Solves Modern US Challenges
An analysis of tweets from across the US reveals the states most for and against a cashless society, with areas where more people are unbanked or struggle to obtain credit being more pro-cash, as it facilitates economic access and personal autonomy.
Reporting on the research, conducted by pro-cashless payments organisation Merchant Machine using an AI sentiment analysis tool on X/Twitter, Kentucky radio station WOMI Owensboro says it shows an overall somewhat positive sentiment towards cashless payments, with Alabama and Delaware being notable exceptions.
‘The most pro-cashless states tend to be those with a relatively low rate of being unbanked’, WOMI observes. In North and South Dakota—which have the highest percentage of positive tweets at 39.22 and 38.78 percent respectively—it notes ‘only 4.9 percent of households don’t have a checking account… according to Pew Charitable Trusts’. In Iowa, with 38.27 percent cashless-positive tweets, that figure is just 2.6 percent. In Alabama, where pro-cashless sentiment is relatively low at 22.42 percent, the unbanked figure is 7.6 percent.
Looking at corresponding figures for tweets expressing anti-cashless sentiments, the top states are Delaware (at 35.85 percent), followed by Montana, Alaska, Rhode Island and New Mexico. Interestingly, North and South Dakota are also high on the anti-cashless tweet analysis, suggesting payment choice is a particularly emotive topic in those states. WOMI quotes former Delaware senator David McBride as saying: ‘Many people cannot obtain credit or debit cards [in Delaware] and consequently they’re out of luck unless they can use good old-fashioned greenbacks.’
Modern banknotes and coins may be friendly and familiar faces, but they’re anything but old-fashioned, employing cutting-edge security features to keep counterfeiting low and make identifying genuine money easy. Cash also addresses very modern problems, such as social inclusion, ensuring people with disabilities can participate in the economy, and offering everyone a payment method that provides greater privacy and security than cashless options.
Whether overall sentiment in a state is pro- or anti-cashless, the best way to keep everyone happy is to offer payment choice, so people can transact in a way that suits them in any given situation. Fortunately, many states already have laws to ensure people are offered the option to pay cash, and further laws are being considered, including on a nationwide level.