Americans Increasingly Turn to Internet for Political News

6:30 am on June 23, 2008 | Category: Email, Messaging, Web Services

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A record 46% of Americans have used the internet, email, or mobile messaging technology to gather information or share views about ’08 Presidential campaign, according to a recent survey by the Pew Internet and American Life project.

Online political videos showed the most significant growth, with 35% of survey respondents viewing such content, more than triple the number in 2004.

About 10% of respondents said that they had used social networking websites such as Facebook and MySpace to gather information or become involved in the campaign. This type of activity is particularly popular among younger voters, which is to be expected given that two thirds of internet users under the age of 30 have at least one social networking profile.

Perhaps most importantly of all, online political contributions have increased considerably, with 6% of Americans donating money to a candidate online, up from 2% in the 2004 presidential campaign. This was a particularly large factor in the early part of the campaign for Republican contender, Ron Paul, who continues to use the strategy in his ongoing “Campaign for Liberty.”

“We’ve seen an evolution of the Internet and its role in politics that has been pretty striking,” commented Lee Rainie, director of Pew.

Between the current presumptive nominees, the internet factor seems to favour Democratic candidate, Barack Obama. 65% of self-described Obama supporters use the internet for political purposes, compared to 56% of those supporting Republican rival, John McCain.

The Pew study, which polled 2,251 adult Americans in April and May, has a margin of error of two percentage points.

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    1. Its true, exspecially with Paul supporters I just signed a petition online that otherwise I probably wouldnt of signed. Put Paul on the LP ticket. http://www.BarrPaul08.com

      Comment by Jane — June 23, 2008 #

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