The number of Americans who used the Internet as their main source of news about the 2006 mid-term election slightly more than doubled over the 2002 mid-term election. A new report by the Pew Internet and American Life Project called “Election 2006 Online” said that 15 percent of Americans used the Internet as their primary source of information about the 2006 election. That was an 8 percent increase since 2002.
“The vanguard of YouTubers and bloggers has become influential in politics,” said Pew Internet Project Director Lee Rainie, one of the authors of the Project’s report on its national survey. “Those who wish to engage voters around a particular issue or candidate have many more tools at their disposal today than they did just four years ago.”
Broadband connections in American homes have also been a factor in using the Internet as a source for political news. In 2002 around 17 percent of Americans had broadband connections at home during the election season and by November 2006 that number increased to 45 percent. Younger broadband users were more likely to say they used the Internet as their main source for political news instead of newspapers.
“Young broadband users seem to be replacing time spent with newspapers with time spent with online news outlets, while older broadband users go online for political information as a supplement to other media like newspapers and television news,” said Pew Internet’s John Horrigan, the Associate Director for Research and co-author of the report. “Younger users especially appreciate the extra information and the variety of perspectives they get online.”
Convenience is the main reason people used the Internet for political information according to the report. The majority of users visited sites of mainstream news organizations. Users also visited non-traditional sites like blogs, humor and satire sites along with candidate and government sites.
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