Overview

Nearly one-in-five Americans (18%) say they went online for election news during this year’s campaign, up from 4% who did so in the 1996 campaign. Fully one-third of the online population, which itself has grown dramatically over the past four years, got election news from the Internet. Veteran online users were far more likely to get election news than Internet “newbies.” Political and election information draws more election news consumers than participation in online political activities. Nearly seven-in-ten of those who went online for election news sought out information on the candidates’ positions.