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Demographics of the Internet In order to understand how Internet users are utilizing on-line sources of political information, it is first necessary to understand who exactly the people using the Internet are. The Internet community does not represent a cross-section of the American electorate, and as such its political activities cannot be compared to those of the electorate at large. An understanding of the demographic composition of the on-line community is essential in analyzing how and why this group uses political information in the ways that it does.
In general terms, the make-up of the Internet community is significantly
divergent from that of the American electorate in many major categories: age,
gender, race, education and income are all represented disproportionately on
the Internet. Among American Internet users, the average age is just over
35,3 whereas the average age of the
American population is 44.4 The
Internet community is also predominantly male, with women only accounting for
only 32 percent of on-line users.5
Because of the expensive of going on-line, and the use of computers in more
upscale jobs, the average on-line user is also more wealthy than the average
citizen. The largest percentage of Internet users, as in general population,
come from households with an annual income between $50,000 and $75,000, with a
significant trend. However, the proportion of wealthier citizens is greater
among users, and there is a significant drop of among those whose annual
household income is under $30,000.6
A similar trend is evident in education, with well over half of on-line users
being college graduates, and a full 15 percent bearing masters degrees.7
The Internet community on the whole is slightly more politically active than
is the electorate at large. Internet users are both more likely to be
registered voters and to have voted in their last local, state, or national
elections. About 64 percent of Internet users reported voting in the most
recent national election, whereas overall voter turnout fell to under 50
percent in the 1996 presidential elections.8 A full 51 percent of on-line users
vote in every election, a feat accomplished by only 42 percent of the general
public.9 Internet users also showed
a higher overall rate of voter registration, with about 85 percent of users
registered to vote. The trends can be explained partially by the general
demographics of the Internet. Users tend to be more educated, including a
large number of students, professors and computer industry professionals, and
the technology is more available to the wealthy. Individuals making more than
$50,000 a year comprise 43 percent of the Internet community. Among the
general electorate, these more educated and affluent groups are generally more
politically active than less educated, poorer groups, so it is no surprise that
the Internet has inherited their spirit of political activity. Forty-five
percent of users report having a "fair amount" of interest in politics, and 24
percent care about it "a great deal."10
Beyond registration and voting patterns, Internet users seem to keep pace with
current political news and information. In October, 1996, during the heat of
the presidential general election, 83 percent of Internet users reported
spending at least 15 minutes a day gathering political information (See Fig.
1), and the largest segment, 29.9 percent, reported spending between half an
hour and an hour per day on political information These figures reflect the
time spent by Internet users on political information provided by all media,
including television, radio, print media and on-line sources.
Many users report feeling more connected with political issues since coming
on-line. Forty-six percent said that they felt equally involved, while 45
percent indicated that since they started using the Internet, the felt more
involved and connected with political issues. Only 1.4 percent of users felt
less involved since coming on-line.11 This indicates that the Internet is
having some impact on how Americans position themselves in the political
sphere. Users are more involved and more active. However, it is still unclear
if this is a direct result of the information that users are encountering on
the Internet, or if it is more related to general trends in the on- and
off-line activities of users. In order to determine the effects of the
Internet, it is first necessary to examine how users get their political
information in general, and what sort of role the Internet actually plays in
their political information-gathering and decision-making processes.
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