Pew Research Center for People & the Press has put out some interesting figures relating to this election and the media involvement of Americans. What caught my interest was the statistics on those of us following the the campaigns on the internet via blogs, online journalism and campaign web sites. One thing it has discovered is that more Liberal Democrats use this medium than Conservative Republicans – and the liberals top the conservatives in activism and financial donations.
Pew says that a distinct majority of all voters, 59%, have sought information on the election from the internet or have participated on an internet site. “The use of online video has exploded,” says Pew, and blogs are being read by 43% of Liberal Democrats and 22% of Conservative Republicans.
This from its report:
Liberal Democrats also are far more likely than others to watch online campaign videos or find election information on the internet. Six-in-ten liberal Democratic voters say they have watched some form of campaign video (debate, commercial, etc.), compared with 33% of conservative Republicans. In addition, 43% of liberal Democrats say they read blogs about politics and the campaign; only about half as many conservative Republicans (22%) say they have read political blogs.
Nearly one in four voters (23%) have visited candidate web sites, up from 16% last November. Larger amounts of younger voters are getting internet information, although a significant quantity of “baby boomers” are on the web as well.
This is positive reinforcement for the publisher of a liberal political blog to read.
