Politics 2.0: Pew Internet Study Data: Election 2006

Pew Internet & American Life Project updated results on their ongoing study of effects of internet on Elections 2006.

Twice as many Americans used the internet as their primary source of news about the 2006 campaign compared with the most recent mid-term election in 2002.

Some 15% of all American adults say the internet was the place where they got most of their campaign news during the election, up from 7% in the mid-term election of 2002.

Now obviously TV+Newspaper still reigns...but note the considerable declines over time. Magazines are holding on by the thinnest of threads!

A post-election survey shows that the 2006 race also produced a notable class of online political activists. Some 23% of those who used the internet for political purposes – the people Pew calls campaign internet users – actually created or forwarded online original political commentary or politically-related videos.


Also worth noting is the rise of influence from non-traditional news sources, namely "comedy satire" venues such as Daily Show and the Onion (Don't hate! Deal with it!) which we've noted before here and here.



Download the full monty here