One of our assigned readings was a survey findings report by the Pew Internet and American Life Project entitled “The Internet’s Role in Campaign 2008”. The survey findings report was released in April of 2009 and outlined several major trends that have developed among ‘online political users’.
The report starts by defining ‘online political users’ as any person who used the internet to access news about politics and the 2008 campaign, communicated with others about politics, shared campaign information and/or received campaign information. The survey found that nearly 74% of internet users could be categorized as ‘online political users’. (Smith 2009) In more general terms, the report extrapolated this statistic to state that this represented over 50% of the entire adult population. (Smith 2009) After establishing this fact, the report summarizes various other findings from the survey. For example, the report notes that as ‘online political users’ has increased the relevance of the internet as a news source has increased, relative to other news sources.
Another interesting finding of the report was that ‘online political users’ are increasingly turning to websites that match their political point of view and moving away from unbiased news sources. Over 30% of surveyed ‘online political users’ stated that they mostly visit political websites aligned with their views. (Smith 2009) The report also notes that both Republican and Democrat ‘online political users’ are following this trend. (Smith 2009) Interestingly, the report also noted that this trend is most predominant among young voters, aged 18-24. (Smith 2009) I found this survey finding to be the most interesting and relevant. I also related to the findings considering I am far more likely to visit a very liberal website, like MSNBC, for political news and information. Correspondingly, I rarely (if ever) access the Fox News website for political information.
The remainder of the report outlines the other findings and conclusions of the survey report. Although significant, I thought that the findings that I discussed above were the most relevant. Increasing access to online political information is a great trend which allows internet users to access information and a diversity of viewpoints quickly. The flip side of the coin is that more and more online users are turning to biased political coverage, which may only further develop the current polarization in American politics.
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