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Half of US voters 'use web for election info'

28 October 2004

Nearly half of Americans online have used the internet to look for information about the forthcoming presidential election, a new survey claims.

Research conducted by the Pew Internet and American Life Project suggests that almost double the amount of voters have used the web to weigh up the two presidential candidates this year than logged on during the run up to the last election in 2000.

The survey asked both online and offline citizens how they had heard about debates as wide-ranging as gay marriage, free trade, the Iraq war and the arguments for and against presidential candidates George Bush and John Kerry.

Internet users, particularly those with broadband connections, had encountered the most arguments on both sides of the debates. The statistics made allowance for the fact that internet users generally have higher levels of education and political interest than those that do not have access.

"Internet users do not burrow themselves into informational warrens where they hear nothing but arguments that reinforce their views," said John Horrigan, research specialist at the Pew Project, a non-profit group dedicated to looking at the social impact of the web in the US.

"Instead, internet users are exposed to more political points of view and more arguments against the things they support. That should be heartening to those who are concerned about the future of democratic debate."

Television remains the primary source of information, though 31 per cent of broadband users cited the internet as their main source of information about the US election.

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