New Tricks for Old — and New — Dogs
Pollsters and other communications researchers are finding their job ever more challenging but also more interesting, and, with the help of new techniques and data sources, even more amenable.
Introduction From the beginning of primary season, many voters seemed to have limitless interest in the twists and turns of the 2008 presidential and other races. This fascination manifested itself in numerous ways, from record numbers of citizens following election news and tracking the progress of the race to extensive waiting-lines on polling day caused […]
Media Movers: 7% of the general population A clear sense from this group is that they come across information nuggets – by themselves or from others – that they then pass along to others. Media Movers have a wide range of online habits, whether that means checking the news, searching for health care information, or […]
Digital Collaborators: 8% of the general population For this group, cyberspace is a place for group collaboration and shared creative effort. This group has the greatest number of information gadgets of any group, the widest scope of online activities, and the most frequent internet habits. All this connectivity helps them share something of themselves with […]
News Consumption ‘Yesterday’ Getting news in one form or another remains a daily habit for the vast majority of Americans. On any given day, roughly eight-in-ten people report seeing, reading or listening to some kind of news. However, reflecting the steep declines in newspaper and radio news consumption, the overall share using any traditional news […]
Overview For more than a decade, the audiences for most traditional news sources have steadily declined, as the number of people getting news online has surged. However, today it is not a choice between traditional sources and the internet for the core elements of today’s news audiences. A sizable minority of Americans find themselves at […]
In 1998, fewer than half of Americans said they had a home computer. Few logged on to the internet and if they did, they used a slow-moving dial-up modem. Today, far more people have access to high-speed internet connections in their homes than had a home computer a decade ago (58% vs. 43%). This just […]