6.16.2008

Pew: The Internet Becomes A Politically Dominant Force

This is really cool. It is also why Barack Obama isn't just going "to win", he's going "to win in a landslide." (see Poblano's in depth polling analysis over at Five Thirty Eight that is making news even among some of our nation's top pollsters).

From Pew, some highlights:

A record-breaking 46% of Americans have used the internet, email or cell phone text messaging to get news about the campaign, share their views and mobilize others. And Barack Obama's backers have an edge in the online political environment.

[snip]

A significant number of voters are also using the internet to gain access to campaign events and primary documents. Some 39% of online Americans have used the internet to access "unfiltered" campaign materials, which includes video of candidate debates, speeches and announcements, as well as position papers and speech transcripts.

Online activism using social media has also grown substantially since the first time we probed this issue during the 2006 midterm elections. Among the findings in our survey:

  • 11% of Americans have contributed to the political conversation by forwarding or posting someone else's commentary about the race.
  • 5% have posted their own original commentary or analysis.
  • 6% have gone online to donate money to a candidate or campaign.
  • Young voters are helping to define the online political debate; 12% of online 18-29 year olds have posted their own political commentary or writing to an online newsgroup, website or blog.

    Led by young voters, Democrats and Obama supporters have taken the lead in their use of online tools for political engagement.

  • 74% of wired Obama supporters have gotten political news and information online, compared with 57% of online Clinton supporters.

  • [snip]

    read more | digg story

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