Pew Research: 'Net Political News Users Doubled

CINCINNATI (TDB) -- The Pew Research Center has published new data about where U.S. voters sought political information during the 2006 off-year campaign cycle and reports: The number turning to the Internet doubled in 4 years. In all, about 60 million people accessed the Internet about politics.

And this: "While television and newspapers still dominate political communication for the majority of American, there is now a group of citizens who use the Internet more than newspapers. They are relatively young -- under 36 years old -- and they have broadband connections at home. Some 35% of those in that cohort say the Internet was their main source of political news during 2006 campaign, compared with 18% who cite newspapers. For older broadband users, the Internet still seems to be a supplemental source of political information and activity."

Pew released its findings on January 17, 2007 and the complete results, including charts comparing primary sources of political media, are available HERE.

Marilyn Geewax, a reporter for Cox News Service in Washington (and an Ohioan from Youngstown who once worked at the Akron Beacon Journal), filed a story about the non-partisan Pew Internet Project study. She wrote: "The Internet has become such a force in politics that 30 million Americans used it as their primary source of campaign information last fall, more than twice as many as during the 2002 election."

Geewax added that that 3% of U.S. homes had high-speed broadband connection in 200O compared to 43% today. And, she noted, the Internet is gaining rapidly on newspapers and TV.