A Cross-Section of Political Involvement, Partisanship and Online Media in Middle America During the 2008 Presidential Campaign

Abstract

This study examined the relationship between the political involvement and online media use from a Midwestern statewide sample during the 2008 presidential election. A series of analyses of variance indicated that the increased use of weblogs, social networking sites, online video sites, and candidates' websites for news and campaign information purposes was moderately but positively related to political involvement. When controlling for social and political demographics as well as other media use characteristics, only two online media variables achieved statistical significance: general Internet use and frequency of weblog use. Using the Internet for campaign news was related to an increase in political involvement but regularly using blogs actually predicted lower levels of political involvement. These results were further moderated by partisanship, which suggests that the political influence of online media was positive only for certain segments of the population during this presidential campaign.

Notes

^aMedia attention measures use scales ranging from 1 (no attention) to 4 (a lot of attention).

^bOut of four debates in the 2008 election.

^cFrequency of use measures use scales ranging from 1 (never) to 3 (sometimes/regularly).

^dInvolvement ranges from 0 (no knowledge/no interest/won't vote) to 9 (full knowledge/very high interest/definitely vote).

*p < .05.

**p ≤ .01.

***p ≤ .001.