• by Paul Gough , October 16, 2003

Howard Dean's runaway success on the Web notwithstanding, a new study finds that Republicans are more likely to rely on the Internet for political information.

Initiative Media recently conducted an in-depth study of California residents in the weeks before the Oct. 7 gubernatorial recall election. The media buying firm hopes to glean insights that will be of use not only in California but in the nationwide run-up to the presidential election a year from next month.

While it wasn't a key part of the report, the study found some differences in media consumption between Republicans and Democrats. An analysis of survey respondents in Republican-dominated demographic market areas (DMAs) found that there's more reliance on the Internet and newspapers for political information. People living in Republican DMAs favored the Internet (36 percent) and newspapers (35 percent) over all other media, though the margins were as thin as the GOP victory in Florida three years ago. Thirty-four percent in Republican DMAs relied on network news (which can include local and national broadcast TV), compared to 33 percent for cable news, 32 percent from political debates and 31 percent for public TV or radio.

Data gleaned from Democrat-dominant DMAs found network news and political debates relied upon by 40 percent, compared to 34 percent for cable news, 33 percent each for the Internet and newspapers and 31 percent for public TV/radio.

Initiative analysts told MediaPost that they would want to see if national surveys bear the findings out. But on first blush, it's likely that that the more upscale of the households in GOP-dominated DMAs don't consume as much television. To reach those upscale households would require a campaign less focused on television. But Stacey Lynn Koerner, executive vice president and director of global research integration at Initiative, said that doesn't mean that TV should be ignored even when reaching Republicans.

"You're never going to be able to avoid television, no matter who you're trying to reach," she said. "But in terms of newspaper and the Internet, I would be using those forces even more heavily."

--Paul Gough