Study Finds Voters More Involved With Campaign Media, Dispels Myth That Online Will Swing Election

Americans appear to be much more involved with campaign-related media than in past presidential elections. But despite the increasing use of Web sites, blogs and social media platforms, they generally remain more skeptical about the Internet as a source of information about the candidates than they do from traditional media outlets. And their No. 1 source of media influence is the most traditional form of all: Word-of-mouth. These are the top line conclusions of a new consumer survey conducted by Publicis' MediaVest unit in the post-primaries period leading up to the general election.

"What we are finding out, is that when it comes to news and information, trust is paramount, and when anyone can publish their opinion online, consumers don't trust it as much as when they can go to a newspaper or a television station and learn what those journalists and commentators are saying," John Spiropoulos, vice president-marketplace research and analytics at MediaVest USA, says of the relatively low credibility associated with online media during the 2008 presidential race.

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The finding contradicts a popular perception and media spin that online media has been shaping the outcome of the 2008 campaign, but the MediaVest research, an online survey of 1,000 adults conducted Sept. 11-17, finds that online options such as campaign Web sites, blogs, and social media pages rank lowest when it comes to attributes that American voters are seeking most from sources of presidential campaign information, especially "fair and impartial news and information."

The online versions of traditional TV, newspaper and magazine Web sites, scored better than pure online sources of information, but still did not perform as well as their traditional media formats when it comes to voter perceptions about "trust," Spiropoulos says.

The good news for the overall political process is that American voters appear to be more interested in political news and information than they were in the last presidential campaign leading up to the 2004 vote, but the most credible and influential source of such information comes not from professional media outlets, but from friends, family and colleagues via word-of-mouth. That is a factor that is consistent with other communications planning research, Spiropoulos says, which have shown personal recommendations and advice to be the greatest source of influence in consumer product and purchase decisions.

Ironically, the most important segment of the 2008 voting population - undecided voters who may swing the election - are the ones least likely to be reached via traditional media outlets. According to MediaVest's study, they are among the lightest users of media of any kind.

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