As is their M.O., Pew this week has posted a wealth of data about internet users during the 2008 political campaign. Here's a little factoid for you:
Supporters of Republican presidential candidate John McCain were more likely than backers of Barack Obama to be internet users (83% vs. 76%). This reflects the fact that McCain supporters and Republicans in general have higher amounts of education and income than Democrats - and those are two of the strongest predictors of internet use. However, online Obama supporters took part in a wider range of online political activities-from posting their own thoughts and comments about the election online to going online to volunteer for campaign activities or donate money.
Look at those first two columns (we're obviously proud to have been a small part of that) in terms of Democratic activity on the internet:
By the way, Republicans apparently have little taste for satire. Of all online political users:
- 34% visited the websites of major national newspapers such as USA Today, the New York Times or the Wall Street Journal. Men, college graduates and wireless internet users are especially interested in this type of news.
- 26% visited blogs that cover news, politics or the media. Democrats and users of other social media tools such as Twitter and social networking sites are particularly fond of reading blogs.
- 19% visited news satire websites like The Onion or the Daily Show. More than one-quarter (27%) of online political users under the age of 30 visit these sites, although one in five 30-49 year olds (21%) do so as well. Republicans, on the other hand, stay away from these sites in droves—just one in ten Republican online political users visit news satire websites, compared with 26% of Democrats and 21% of independents.
And more:
Among those who got election news from one or more of the thirteen specific sources listed above:
- 13% visited just one source
- 13% visited two sources
- 14% visited three sources
- 15% visited four sources
- 10% visited five sources
- 35% visited six or more sources
Put another way, 87% of political news consumers sought out multiple genres of online news over the course of the election. Men, young adults, those who are affiliated with the Democratic party and those with high levels of income and education tend to be the most intense online news consumers.
There's a wealth of info here, and I encourage spending some time sifting through the data. Our reading habits on the internet are really not so unique. Too bad they didn't poll how often people click the provided links. Oh, well, whether they did or didn't, our demographic apparently found their way to multiple sources of info. And that, in the end, is a good thing.
