Obama's Internet Allies Plan Continued Engagement

title=Voters Go Online} 

According to the Pew survey, prior online involvement during the presidential race is "strongly predictive" of online voter engagement during the transition process, and Obama's Internet-based supporters prove that point. Since Election Day, 15 percent of all online Americans have visited a Web site affiliated with the Obama transition effort, but 24 percent of online Obama voters have visited transition-related Web sites.

Among Obama voters who got campaign news and information online or who were politically active online during the campaign, 33 percent have gone online to track or discuss the transition process. In addition to visiting Web sites such as change.gov, 6 percent of online Obama voters have signed up to receive e-mail updates and an additional 5 percent have joined or participated in e-mail lists or online discussion groups.

In sharp contrast, among Obama voters who use the Internet but were not politically active during the campaign, just 4 percent have gone online to learn about or share their thoughts on the new administration.

Among Republicans, 10 percent have visited a transition site. As with Obama voters, Republican voters with prior exposure to the online political debate are much more heavily involved in online post-election efforts than GOP voters who use the Internet but are not engaged in the online political debate. Some 11 percent of politically engaged Internet users who supported Sen. John McCain have visited transition sites, compared with less than 1 percent of Republican voters who use the Internet but who are not politically active.