Is the Internet an Effective Tool for Political Engagement During Elections?
March 13th, 2008 — mridulOne major challenge of mature democracies such as the US is political engagement of its citizens. America has one of the lowest voter turnout rates among the developed countries. It is particularly true for the young population. But has the trend begun to change noticeably? Is the Internet a factor in all this?
Young voter turnout in the US has steadily declined since the 1970s till the end of the century. According to the US Census Bureau’s Survey, people aged 18-24 accounted for 52.1% of the voter turnout rate in 1972 presidential election and it steadily declined to 36.1% in 2000. However, there was an astonishing 11 percentage point increase in 2004, accounting for 46.7% of the voter turnout rate. The trend has been quite similar for all major groups, white, Hispanic and African-American.
While there may be socio-political factors involved that can explain this sharp hype, it is interesting to note that one difference between the world of 2000 and the world of 2004 is accessibility and popularity of Internet applications such as online petitions and online networking. It is not inconceivable that the Internet has had an important role to play in this, as many Internet enthusiasts believe. This belief will perhaps be put to the test in the upcoming presidential election.
Compared to 2004, the number and user-friendliness of Internet applications for political campaigning has improved dramatically with the emergence of Web 2.0 technologies. Applications such as Facebook can safely claim that these account for a sizeable proportion of the time spent on the Internet by US college students. Scores of Facebook groups have been formed with tens of millions of members who are actively debating about the policies and personalities of the presidential candidates. We have yet to see what impact this will have on the upcoming election with regards to young voter turnout.
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