Burst Media recently undertook a survey of more than 900 likely voters to get a better idea of how Internet content and advertising has grown in its impact and influence on voters. The findings in this study derived from respondents 18 years and older who will either "definitely" or "probably" vote in this year's election.
Nearly one-quarter (23.7 percent ) of likely voters have clicked on a Web advertisement for a political candidate or issue advocacy group.
Among "clickers," 43.6 percent have clicked only on an advocacy group advertisement; 29.9 percent clicked only on a candidate's advertisement; and 26.45 percent said they have clicked on a candidate's as well as an advocacy group's ad. Men (27.4 percent ) are more likely than women (20.1 percent ) to have clicked on a candidate's or advocacy group's Web ad.
Among likely voters who clicked on a candidate's Web advertisement, nearly two-thirds (63.5 percent) went on to read additional information about the candidate's platform on issues, 47.3 percent sent an email to the candidate, 39.5 percent signed-up to receive campaign email alerts, 33.4 percent watched a video ad, 17.8 percent made an online donation, and 16.8 percent signed-up to volunteer for the campaign.
Among voters who clicked on an advocacy group's Web advertisement, two-thirds (69.8 percent ) went on to read additional information about the group's positions on campaign issues, 45.6 percent signed an online petition, 40.0 percent clicked and sent an automated message to an elected official, 37.1 percent signed-up to receive email alerts, 28.5 percent watched a video ad, 19.1 percent signed-up to become a member, 17.7 percent made and online donation, and 13.8 percent signed-up to volunteer for the organization.
"This is a powerful argument for candidates and advocacy groups to use the Internet to communicate their ideas to potential voters.
Their Web sites are important destinations to influences voters and ads are very effective at getting voters more actively involved with candidates and issues," says Chuck Moran, Manager of Market Research for Burst.
Other key findings from the survey:
- Two out of five (40.4 percent ) likely voters have visited a candidate's Web site during the current election season. Men are significantly more likely than women to have visited a candidate's Web site -- 46.5 percent versus 34.5 percent, respectively.
- Visiting a candidate's Web site is not the sole domain of the young. In fact, nearly half of men (46.1 percent ) and women (46.8 percent ) 65 years and older have visited a candidate's Web site.
- Slightly more than one-third (35.6 percent ) of likely voters have visited an issue advocacy group's website during the current election season.
- Men are significantly more likely than women to say they have visited an issue advocacy group's Web site during the current election cycle-- 43.2 percent versus 28.2 percent.
- Two-thirds (65.3 percent) of likely voters who have visited either a candidate's or advocacy group's Web sites say the site was informative-- only 7.8 percent say the site was uninformative.
Likely voters were asked whether in the weeks leading-up to the November election they expect to visit either a candidate's or advocacy group's Web site. Four out of five (78.0 percent ) likely voters who have already visited election related sites expect to do so again in the weeks leading to the November election. Additionally, nearly one-quarter (23.2 percent ) of likely voters who have not yet visited an election related site expect to visit one in the coming weeks.
Two-thirds (65.4 percent) of likely voters who visited a candidate's or advocacy group's Web site visited a Web site of a candidate or issue advocacy group they did not or were unsure they'd support. Among respondents who visited a candidate's or group's site they didn't support -- over one-third (40.7 percent ) did so to learn more about the candidate's or organization's position on issues, 34.4 percent wanted to learn more about the candidate's or group's strategy/plans/tactics, and 16.4 percent visited to send comments to the group or candidate.
