• by Gavin O'Malley , March 8, 2005

Seventy-five million people used the Web in some form to educate themselves on the Presidential campaign, the candidates, and the issues, according to a telephone survey of 2,200 U.S. adults last November conducted by the Pew Internet & American Life Project and the Pew Research Center for The People & The Press.

Eighteen percent of survey respondents said the Internet was one of their primary sources of campaign news, up from 11 percent in 2000. At the same time, the proportion of voters who cited newspapers as one of their main sources dropped from 60 percent in 1996 to 39 percent in 2000 and 2004; only 4 percent of voters deemed magazines among their most important news sources--down from 3 percent in 2000 and 4 percent in 1996. Radio held relatively steady, with 17 percent stating it was a primary source of campaign news--up from 15 percent in 2000, but down from 19 percent in 1996.

More than one out of three (36 percent) of respondents said network television was one of their main sources of election-related news--up from 22 percent in 2000, but still down from 55 percent in 1992.

Nearly half of all Internet users--and 56 percent of those who get their political news online--said "the Internet has raised the overall quality of public debate" during the campaign, while just 5 percent said it lowered the overall quality.

"We found that the Internet's role in political life and campaigning is robust and will continue to be so," Lee Rainie, director of the Pew Internet & American Life Project, said.

Pew also determined that the type of voter who participated politically online shifted from predominantly male, white, and "relatively well-to-do" in 1996 to include a higher proportion of women, older Americans, and rural residents in 2004.

What are citizens doing to educate themselves online? Pew reported a 42 percent growth from 2000 to 2004 in the number of people using the Internet to research candidates' platforms; a 82 percent increase in the number researching candidates' voting records; and a 50 percent increase in the number participating in online polls.

The study notes that from 2000 to 2004, twice as many Americans discussed politics in chat rooms and "other online forums"--which, according to Rainie, includes blogs. But just 2 percent of Americans said in 2004 that they regularly referred to online columns or blogs --such as "Talking Points Memo, the Daily Kos, or Instapundit"--while 95 percent said they "hardly ever" read blogs.