Utilizing the Internet as a Campaign Tool: The Relationship Between Incumbency, Political Party Affiliation, Election Outcomes, and the Quality of Campaign Web sites in the United States

ABSTRACT

This research considers the growing use of the Internet by campaigns in the United States at the sub-presidential level and examines whether the Internet can be used as an effective tool. My research examines the candidate Web sites on several dimensions of quality. The Internet quality index reflects attention to both scholarly research regarding information technology and literature on political campaigns and elections. Using a sample of House, Senate, and gubernatorial Web sites, I observed the relative quality of campaign Web sites from the 2002 mid-term election in relation to incumbency and political party affiliation. I also examined electoral success in relation to the Internet quality of the campaign Web sites. The goal of this analysis is to predict the quality of candidate Web sites by incumbency and political party affiliation; and subsequently, to answer the question of whether candidate Web site quality has a relationship to electoral success.

KEYWORDS:

• Internet
• campaigns
• elections
• senate
• house of representatives
• Web site

Acknowledgments

Christopher would like to acknowledge Dr. Anne Hildreth and Dr. Bill Latimer for their support with this research.

Notes

1. The data set that includes the content analysis of the 2002 House, Senate, and gubernatorial candidate Web sites is available for replication at the Inter University Consortium for Political and Social Research.

2. Incumbency reflects simple advantages associated with this label such as franking privileges and casework. Characteristics such as previous legislative experience, seat marginality, education level, and the candidate's age are not reflected in this label and may also have a relationship to online campaigning.

3. If this analysis were to be replicated outside the US in a party-centered or parliamentary system, the independent variables of incumbency and political party may have to be adjusted.

4. U.S.C. § 230(b) (emphasis added). Telecommunications Act of 1996 § 706. Concerns directing the Federal Communications Commission to remove regulatory barriers that discourage the development of advanced telecommunications including the Internet.

5. For a complete discussion about the relationship between the Internet and our changing political system, consult King (2002).

6. Third parties included: Green, Reform, Libertarian, Constitution, Natural Law, and candidates labeled as Independents.

7. Readers interested in further research concerning criteria used for coding Internet quality can consult Foot & Schneider (2003); Gibson, R., Gow, D., Bean, C., & McAllister, I. (2005).

8. Readers interested in their entire list can consult Cyberspace Policy Research Group http://www.cyprg.arizona.edu/waes.html

9. Quality criteria were rationally assigned to the five dimensions based on extant literature. Exploratory factor analysis largely supported the analysis not reported here.