Numbers, Facts and Trends Shaping Your World

Internet Election News Audience Seeks Convenience, Familiar Names

Methodology

About the survey

Results for the survey are based on telephone interviews conducted under the direction of Princeton Survey Research Associates among a nationwide sample of 8,378 adults, 18 years of age or older, during the period October 10 – November 26, 2000.

For results based on the total sample during October 10 – November 19 (N=7,426), one can say with 95% confidence that the error attributable to sampling and other random effects is plus or minus 1.5 percentage points. For results based on online users (N=4,186) during this period, the sampling error is plus or minus 2 percentage points. For results based on election news consumers (N=1,435) during this period, the sampling error is plus or minus 3 percentage points.

For results based on online users (N=2,876) during the period of October 10 – November 9, the sampling error is plus or minus 2 percentage points. For results based on election news consumers (N=841) during this period, the sampling error is plus or minus 4 percentage points.

For results based on all adults (N=3,234) during the period November 10-26, the sampling error is plus or minus 2 percentage points.

ONLINE FOR ELECTION NEWS BY DEMOGRAPHICS
(Based on General Public)

1996 1998 2000 (N)
% % %
Total 4 6 18 -7426
Sex
Male 5 9 21 -3629
Female 2 3 15 -3797
Age
Under 30 5 8 25 -1540
30-49 5 8 22 -2985
50-64 2 4 15 -1446
65+ * 2 3 -1272
Sex and Age
Men under 50 7 10 25 -2359
Women under 50 4 4 20 -2166
Men 50+ 2 4 13 -1207
Women 50+ 2 2 7 -1511
Race
White 4 7 19 -5953
Black 3 2 12 -807
Hispanic* n/a 6 16 -499
Education
College Grad. 9 12 33 -2281
Some College 4 9 24 -1821
High School Grad. 2 2 10 -2523
<H.S. Grad. 1 0 4 -710
Region
East 4 7 18 -1367
Midwest 4 6 16 -1810
South 4 4 16 -2830
West 5 9 23 -1419

* The designation Hispanic is unrelated to the white-black categorization.

Reading this Table : This table shows the percentage of each demographic group that goes online for election news. For example, the first column shows that 4% of the general public went online for election news in 1996, 5% of men went online for election news, while 2% women went online for election news.

Question: Do/Did you ever go online to get news or information about the 2000 elections?

1996 1998 2000 (N)
% % %
Total 4 6 18 -7426
Family Income
$75,000+ 7 12 34 -1173
$50,000-$74,999 6 13 27 -1014
$30,000-$49,999 5 7 20 -1534
$20,000-$29,999 2 6 12 -888
<$20,000 2 2 8 -1067
Party ID
Republican 4 10 23 -2097
Democrat 4 4 16 -2443
Independent 4 3 18 -1969
Party and Ideology
Conservative Republican n/a n/a 26 -1277
Moderate/Liberal Republican n/a n/a 20 -726
Conservative/Moderate Democrat n/a n/a 14 -1571
Liberal Democrat n/a n/a 25 -703
Marital Status
Married 4 6 19 -4133
Not Married 4 7 16 -3208
Parental Status
Parent n/a 6 21 -2651
Non-Parent n/a 6 16 -4746
Employment Status
Full-time n/a n/a 23 -4038
Part-time n/a n/a 20 -841
Retired n/a n/a 5 -1455
Not-employed n/a n/a 15 -786
Disabled n/a n/a 5 -127
Student (working and non-working) n/a n/a 34 -1040
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