Obama has an online edge over McCain
p2pnet news view P2P | Politics:- Ex-movie actor and US president Ronald Reagan is often credited with being the first politican to fully grasp the importance of TV as a way of connecting with the masses.
But these days, online is where it’s at and a record-breaking 46% of Americans have used the Net, email or cell phone text messaging to get news about the current US presidential campaign, share their views and mobilize others, says the Internet and the 2008 Election.
Produced by the Pew Internet & American Life Project survey, moreover, Barack Obama’s backers, “have an edge in the online political environment,” it states.
Three online activities have become especially prominent as the presidential primary campaigns move ahead, says the report, going on first, 35% of Americans say they have watched online political videos – a figure that nearly triples the reading Pew got in the 2004 race.
Second, 10% say they’ve used social networking sites to gather information, or become involved.
“This is particularly popular with younger voters,” says Pew, going on:
“Two-thirds of internet users under the age of 30 have a social networking profile, and half of these use social networking sites to get or share information about politics or the campaigns.”
Third, 6% of Americans have made political contributions online, compared with 2% the entire 2004 campaign.
“A significant number of voters are also using the internet to gain access to campaign events and primary documents,” says the report, going on:
“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,” says Pew.
Findings include:»»»
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.
In a head-to-head matchup with internet users who support Republican McCain, Obama’s backers are more likely to get political news and information online (65% vs. 56%).
Obama supporters outpace both Clinton and McCain supporters in their usage of online video, social networking sites and other online campaign activities.
But, “despite the growth in the number of people who are politically engaged online, internet users express some ambivalence about the role of the internet in the campaign,” says the report, adding:
“On one hand, 28% of wired Americans say that the internet makes them feel more personally connected to the campaign, and 22% say that they would not be as involved in the campaign if not for the internet. At the same time, however, even larger numbers feel that the internet magnifies the most extreme viewpoints and is a source of misinformation for many voters.”
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