As the 2012 presidential election approaches, campaign coverage is once again moving to the forefront of the media agenda. To learn more about the way Americans gather political information, the Digital Future Project has asked respondents about the online channels through which they access campaign news.

The 2009 Digital Future survey tapped the extent to which adult Internet users went to traditional media outlets online, the sites of political candidates, Web portals (e.g. Yahoo), and blogs to find information about the election. The primary sources of campaign coverage in 2009 were traditional media sites such as nytimes.com. Those sites were accessed by 82 percent of those Internet users who reported gathering campaign information online. This was a significant increase from the 70 percent recorded in 2008.

Accessing information on candidates’ Web sites increased from 58 percent in 2008 to 66 percent in 2009. About 57 percent of users who looked for election news on the Web in 2009 said they found campaign information on Internet portals. Only 18 percent reported seeking campaign information on blogs, up slightly from 14 percent in 2008, but down from the peak of 28 percent in 2007.
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Location of election-related information found by Internet users
(Percentage of adult Internet users who gather campaign information online)

election-related-informatio

 

For the full report of the 2009 findings, visit here.

Visit the Web Insight Archive.