• by Jack Loechner , Staff Writer @mp_research, October 7, 2002

eMail Carries Weight in the Political Arena

With elections imminent, communicating with government officials and prospective voters is of significant interest. Pew Internet & American Life Project, in partnership with the National League of Cities, recently released the first-ever survey of mayors, city council members and Congressional representatives and their use of the Internet.

The overall summary of findings shows that local officials have embraced the Internet as part of their official lives and most now use email to communicate with constituents. This result is in contrast to Congressional representatives, who have felt swamped by email and who often dismiss emails as not very meaningful, while local officials find them useful.

Local level officials say they learn about constituents’ opinions and activities when they go online. More local groups are being heard and recognized at the local level thanks to email. Still, it is generally the case that while the use of email adds to the convenience and depth of civic exchanges, its use is not ushering a revolution in municipal affairs or local politics.

Online local officials are also most likely to cite meetings (55%), phone calls (49%) and letters (27%), rather than email, as the kinds of contacts from constituents that carry the most weight with them. Only 14% said that they assign a significant amount of weight to email.

- 61% of online local officials use email to communicate with citizens at least weekly. 21% do so every day.

- 75% of online local officials use the Web for research and other purposes in course of their official duties at least weekly.

- 73% of online officials note that email with constituents helps them better understand public opinion.

- 54% of online officials say that their use of email has brought them into contact with citizens from whom they had not heard before.

- 32% have been persuaded by email campaigns at least in part about the merits of a group’s argument on a policy question.

Online local officials often use both official and personal email accounts for official business. Officials in small cities are more likely than big-city officials to rely on personal accounts; big-city officials are more likely to rely on government-provided accounts. Those who make use of both government and personal email accounts do so for reasons of convenience for both themselves and their constituents. Officials who work day jobs want to be available to their constituents during the day. Others note it is easier to deal with their official emails at home.