Political Access: The Internet as a Source of Campaign Information

By Kenneth Winneg and Natalie Jomini Stroud

Use of the internet for political information has become a more common practice in recent years. The demographics of internet use, however, have raised concerns that it will lead to a digital divide, whereby the information-rich become richer and the information-poor become poorer. In terms of seeking political information online, a digital divide would mean that those traditionally uninformed and unengaged would remain so, and the gap between them and the engaged might, in fact, increase. The Institute for Politics, Democracy and the Internet (2004) described an online citizenry that is not only more politically engaged, but also better-educated, younger, and predominantly male.

There was a great deal of talk about the growth of the internet as a source for political information in the 2004 Democratic primary campaign. But many questions remain: Did this growth actually occur during the campaign? Where did potential voters go to get their information online-to weblogs, campaign websites, or news organization websites? How different were those who got their campaign information online from those who did not use the internet for that purpose? Were they more knowledgeable and involved in the campaign? Which candidate, if any, benefited?

For answers to these questions, we looked at findings from the 2004 National Annenberg Election Survey (NAES04). The survey, conducted by the Annenberg Public Policy Center at the University of Pennsylvania, used a rolling cross-section telephone survey design and was in the field continuously from October 7, 2003, to November 16, 2004. This survey was particularly useful because its large sample size allowed analysis of small subgroups in the population.

We divided this analysis into three sampling periods. The first went from October 7, 2003, to January 12, 2004. Campaign activity, though relatively active, was still in an early phase, despite the frontloading of the Democratic primaries and caucuses. The second period, from January 13 to 27, saw an increase in news coverage and campaigning in Iowa and New Hampshire. The Iowa caucus took place on January 19 and the New Hampshire primary on January 27. During this time, the presumed frontrunner, Howard Dean, weakened, and John Kerry began to climb in the polls.

The third period began on January 28, 2004, the day following Kerry's victory in New Hampshire, and continued through Super Tuesday, March 2 (where he won all but two primaries during this time period). On March 3, John Edwards dropped out, and Kerry became the presumptive Democratic nominee.

In NAES04, we measured general internet access by asking respondents whether or not they had access to the internet. To measure political internet use, those with internet access were asked, "How many days in the past week did you access information about the campaign for president online?" Registered voters who said they were planning to vote in the Democratic primary or caucus in their state were designated "Intenders." Table 1 shows the associated sample sizes and margins of error for Intenders for the three periods.

Table 1: Sample Design

We found that during the Democratic primary season, which extended over our three sampling periods, general internet access among Intenders was high. Through the end of the third interviewing period, 73 percent of all Intenders said they had access to the internet. "Accessors" were those Intenders who used the internet to obtain information about the presidential campaign.