The Pew’s latest study provides some data that supports recent press coverage of the significant advantage Obama has in the online campaign.
Some nuggets that will probably escape most reporting:
- Getting campaign news online: while there hasn’t been much growth in the over 50, less educated, or less well off demographics, there has been a huge jump among the number of African-Americans going to the internet for their campaign news: 40%, more than double the figure from 2004.
- 20% of all adults have watched a candidate’s speech or announcement online. Measuring internet users that’s 19% of those aged 65 and older and 20% of those between 50-64 years of age.
- 10% of all adults have signed an online petition
- 6% of all adults have donated to a candidate online
Unfortunately the Pew’s study focuses more on Obama v. Hillary comparisons rather than comparing the two nominees. What is interesting to note is that while nearly as many Republicans use the internet for news and social networking as Democrats, this does not carry over into online activity in support of their candidate.
The online activity does not differ much between supporters of the two parties:
At the level of party partisanship, there are few differences on basic measures such as using the internet or going online to look for political news and information:
- 78% of Republicans, 74% of Democrats, and 76% of independents go online.
- Among internet users, 55% of Republicans, 61% of Democrats, and 56% of independents look online for news about politics or the 2008 campaigns.
Yet when measuring online political activity, Obama supporters far outpace their Republican counterparts:
In a head-to-head matchup with Republican McCain, Democrat Obama has similar advantages: among those who go online, his supporters are more likely to sign an online petition (18% have done so, compared with 11% of McCain supporters), sign up to receive emails from the candidates or campaigns (17% vs. 8%), contribute money online (13% vs. 5%), to post their own political commentary or writing (8% vs. 4%), and volunteer online for activities related to the campaign (5% vs. 2%). Overall, 49% of Republicans, 50% of Democrats, and 48% of independents use the internet, email, or text messaging to learn about the campaign and engage in the political process.
This poll seems to support the conclusions drawn in the recent Politico article, Can McCain Compete with Obama Online. The McCain campaign is a top-down campaign that doesn’t provide much space for online activity. And, as evidenced by the YouTube viewership disparity, there is a gulf in the enthusiasm between the supporters of the two candidates. While Obama supplies the tools for his supporters to get involved, he also supplies the excitement to draw people in online. We have yet to see this type of enthusiasm among McCain supporters.
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