WASHINGTON, DC — Fully 46-percent of all Americans have used the internet, email, or cell-phone text messaging to get news about the presidential campaign, share their views, and mobilize others, according to a new survey by the Pew Internet & American Life Project.Further, the proportion of Americans going online to get political news or information on a typical day at the tail end of the primary season has more than doubled since a comparable point in the 2004 race — from 8-percent of all adults in Spring 2004 to 17-percent of all adults in Spring 2008.
Among other things, the Pew poll found younger voters are among the most active and intense internet users. These online voters are more likely to support Democrat Barack Obama, and that means his partisans were significantly ahead of Hillary Clinton’s supporters online in the endgame of the Democratic race. In addition, Obama backers have a higher profile in some online areas than supporters of Republican John McCain.
Three online activities became especially prominent as the presidential primary campaigns progressed. First, 35-percent of poll respondents said they watched online political videos — a figure that nearly triples the reading the Pew Internet Project got during the 2004 race.
Second, 10-percent said they used social-networking sites such as Facebook or MySpace to gather information or become involved. This is particularly popular with younger voters: Two-thirds of internet users younger than 30 have a social-networking profile, and half of that two-thirds used social-networking sites to get or share information about politics or the campaigns.
Third, 6-percent of poll respondents made political contributions online, compared to 2-percent who contributed online during the entire 2004 campaign.
A significant number of voters also reported using the internet to gain access to campaign events and primary documents. Some 39-percent of poll respondents used the internet to access “unfiltered” campaign materials including video of candidate debates, speeches and announcements in addition to position papers and speech transcripts.
The Pew Internet Project is an initiative of the Pew Research Center, a nonprofit “fact tank” that provides information about the issues, attitudes and trends shaping America and the world. Pew Internet explores the impact of the internet on children, families, communities, the work place, schools, health care and civic/political life.
The poll was conducted between April 8th and May 11th.
