Net No 1 for US political news
p2pnet.net News:- Last year was a breakout year for the role of the internet in politics, says a new study.
Seventy-five million Americans used the Net to get news, discuss candidates in emails, and participate directly in the political process. And that’s 37% of the adult population and 61% of online Americans, says a Pew Internet & American Life Project report, The Internet and Campaign 2004.
People surfed to get, “political news and information, discuss candidates and debate issues in emails, or participate directly in the political process by volunteering or giving contributions to candidates,” it states, going on:
“Kerry voters among online political news consumers were more active online than Bush supporters, and Kerry backers claim they got more out of online politics than did Bush supporters.”
The online political news consumer population grew dramatically from previous election years (up from 18% of the U.S. population in 2000 to 29% in 2004), “and there was an increase of more than 50% between 2000 and 2004 in the number of registered voters who cited the internet as one of their primary sources of news about the presidential campaign,” says the report.
Findings include:
- 52% of internet users, or about 63 million people, said they went online to get news or information about the 2004 elections. We call them online political news consumers.
- 35% of internet users, or about 43 million people, said they used email to discuss politics, and one of the most popular email subjects was jokes about the candidates and the election.
- 11% of internet users, or more than 13 million people, went online to engage directly in campaign activities such as donating money, volunteering, or learning about political events to attend.
In addition, in 2004:
- 31 million went online to find out how candidates were doing in opinion polls.
- 25 million used the internet to check the accuracy of claims made by or about the candidates.
- 19 million watched video clips about the candidates or the election.
- 17 million sent emails about the campaign to groups of family members or friends as part of listservs or discussion groups.
- 14 million signed up for email newsletters or other online alerts to get the latest news about politics.
- 7 million signed up to receive email from the presidential campaigns.
- 4 million signed up online for campaign volunteer activities such as helping to organize a rally, register voters, or get people to the polls on Election Day.
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