The Internet has never been so vital for the American voter as it is today. Finding Web info about candidate positions is creating a truly informed electorate, but do Democrats or Republicans spend more time online to dig deep past the press release?
Digital Journal — The popularity of the Internet has made each presidential candidate’s platform more available than ever before. Political blogs are culling readers in the tens of thousands, hundreds of thousands. Campaign ads storm through YouTube, speech gaffes are posted online instantly, and campaign groups are using viral techniques to encourage high voter turnout.
This Web surge points to some intriguing statistics, thanks to the Pew Research Center for the People & Press: a majority of voters (59 per cent) admit they have sought out election content online or had some type of online communication about the campaign. It’s not always active participation, sometimes it’s passive: around a quarter of voters (26 percent) say they have received an email from one of the political campaigns or from a political group, up from 17 per cent in December.
Need more evidence? Around one-in-four voters (23 per cent) have toured a candidate’s website; in November, just 16 per cent had checked out such a site.
The info a voter amasses floods the brain with policies and stump speeches bound to inundate the average person. At the same time, the Web creates such an informed voter it can be seen as one of the greatest harbingers of democratic freedom available to modern nations. With all that info at the fingertips, though, which side of campaign coin is taking advantage of the free data?
According to the Pew study, more Democrats (12 per cent) than Republicans (7 per cent) or independents (5 per cent) have received campaign information from social networking sites. Yes, the number is small, which may speak to the fringe appeal of this area. Democrats also trump Republicans in viewing video about the campaign — 43 per cent of Democrats say they have seen at least some type of election-related video, compared to 35 per cent of Republicans who have done this.
This partisan difference means liberal voters are hungrier to seek out news on the Web, for reasons unknown. Could it be that the Obama campaign has better encouraged online interactivity? And does McCain’s supposed lack of Web knowledge trickle down to his supporters? Whatever the cause, it’s apparent every baby step and tremble made by the e-Obama team will be instantly nabbed by Democrats…for better or worse.
A caveat, though: Web engagement can also create the picky voter, a specimen so barraged by political ad commentary and forum thread mud-slinging, it can be difficult to choose one candidate amidst the chaos. The picky voter surfs to parse together political theories sticky to pre-formed opinion; the picky person might notice dissent but will it impact on Election Day?
On the final week before Nov. 4, the undecided voter should take advantage of the online opportunities available. It would be foolish to ignore how speeches and TV quotes can be bookmarked on the Web, how some progressive groups go to incredible efforts to make government transparent. The lazy voter will decide on the next president through TV commercials and news headlines; the engaged voter will pore through the blogs, videos and campaign Web pages to decide what’s relevant and what’s spin.
