PEW har offentliggjort en ny rapport om amerikanernes brug af internettet under primærvalgene:

The 46% figure was calculated by adding up the number of people who said had done at least one of the following activities:

• 40% of all Americans (internet users and non-users alike) have gotten news and information about this year’s campaign via the internet.

• 19% of Americans go online once a week or more to do something related to the campaign, and 6% go online to engage politically on a daily basis.

• 23% of Americans say they receive emails urging them to support a candidate or discuss the campaign once a week or more.

• 10% of Americans use email to contribute to the political debate with a similar frequency.

• 4% of Americans have exchanged political views via text messaging.

The figures above add up to more than 46% because many citizens said they were doing several of the activities.

Three online activities have become especially prominent as the presidential primary campaigns have progressed: First, 35% 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% 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 social networking sites to get or share information about politics or the campaigns.

Third, 6% of Americans have made political contributions online, compared with 2% who did that during the entire 2004 campaign.

A significant number of voters are also using the internet to gain access to campaign events and primary documents. Some 39% 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 and speech transcripts.

“Many voters are now using the internet to move past traditional media gatekeepers to gain their own view of the candidates and the campaign,” said Pew Internet Project Research Specialist Aaron Smith, an author on the report. “This shows the appetite of engaged citizens to move beyond the sound-bite culture and make their own assessments of the meaning of political developments.”