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The PEW survey also suggests that presumptive Democratic nominee Barack Obama's backers have an edge in online political activities.
The poll shows three online activities have become especially prominent as the Presidential primary campaigns have progressed.
First, 35 percent of Americans say they have watched online political videos, a figure that nearly triples the reading the Pew Internet Project got in the 2004 race.
Second, 10 percent say they have used social networking sites such as Facebook or MySpace to gather information or become involved.
This is particularly popular with younger voters: Two-thirds of internet users under the age of 30 have a social networking profile, and half of these use networking sites to get or share information about politics or campaigns.
Third, six percent of Americans have made political contributions online, compared with two percent who did so during the entire 2004 campaign.
A significant number of voters, the survey shows, are also using the internet to gain access to campaign events and primary documents.
Some 39 percent of online Americans have used the internet to access "unfiltered" campaign materials, which includes video of candidate debates, speeches and announcements, as well as position papers.
Online activism using social media has also grown substantially since the first time PEW probed this issue during the 2006 midterm elections.
The survey finds that 11 percent of Americans have contributed to the political conversation by forwarding or posting someone else's commentary about the race.
Five percent have posted their own original commentary or analysis.
Young voters are helping to define the online political debate 12 percent of online 18-29 year olds have posted their own political commentary or wrote to an online newsgroup, website or blog.
Led by young voters, Democrats and Obama supporters have taken the lead in their use of online tools for political engagement.
While 74 percent of wired Obama supporters have got political news and information online, the figure is 57 percent for online Clinton supporters.
In a head-to-head matchup with internet users who support Republican McCain, Obama's backers are more likely to get political news and information online (65 to 56 percent).
Obama supporters also outpace both Clinton and McCain supporters in their usage of online video, social networking sites and other online campaign activities, the poll finds.
Yet, despite the growth in the number of people who are politically engaged online, internet users express some ambivalence about the role of the internet in the campaign.
On one hand, 28 percent of wired Americans say that the internet makes them feel more personally connected to the campaign, and 22 percent say that they would not be as involved in the campaign if not for the internet.
At the same time, however, even larger numbers feel that the internet magnifies the most extreme viewpoints and is a source of misinformation for many voters.
Source: By DDNEWS
Posted June 17th, 2008 by Armen Hareyan
