The internet passed a significant marker in the 2008 election season, as more than half of the entire adult population (internet users and non-users alike) went online to learn about the campaign or get involved in the political process.
We define engagement in the online political environment using three separate metrics. First, we asked members of the wired population whether they went online for news and information about politics during the 2008 election season. Six in ten internet users (60%) said that they had done so at least occasionally over the course of the campaign.
Next, we asked whether they used the internet to communicate with others about the campaign and 38% internet users said that they had done this. Indeed, nearly one in ten internet users went online to talk politics on a daily basis during campaign season—5% did so every day and an additional 4% said that they did so multiple times a day.
Finally, we asked whether they had gotten campaign information or communicated with others about politics using specific tools such as email, text messaging, instant messaging or Twitter. All told, six in ten internet users (59%) received or shared political information over the course of the campaign using one or more of these technologies.
Taken together, this means that fully 74% of internet users—or 55% of all American adults—went online during the 2008 election season to get news or information about the campaign, to communicate with others about politics, or to contribute to the online debate. Throughout this report, these individuals are referred to as “online political users.”
While the overall size of the online political user population is notable in its own right, it is also striking to observe the broad base of demographic groups it represents. To be sure, certain demographic cohorts contain a relatively small number of online political users: For example, 22% of all adults age 65 or older and 31% of those with a household income of less than $30,000 per year took part in the online political process this year. However, this is largely due to the fact that these groups are relatively unlikely to go online in the first place. Among those who go online, more than half of most major demographic subgroups (seniors, African Americans, etc) were politically engaged online in one way or another this election season.
Another way to examine this issue is to compare the demographics of the online political user population to that of all internet users and to the adult population as a whole. When viewed in this manner, one can see that online political users are similar in their demographic composition to these other groups with respect to gender, race and geography. On the other hand, the online political user audience is indeed younger, and has greater levels of income and education, than the population as a whole.