Politics Online

Lee Rainie appeared on the NewsHour to discuss the findings.

A record-breaking 46% of Americans have already used the internet for politics this election season and Barack Obama's backers have an edge.

The internet is living up to its potential as a major source for news about the presidential campaign. Nearly a quarter of Americans (24%) say they regularly learn something about the campaign from the internet, almost the double the percentage from ...

Barack Obama makes an early play for "YouTube moment of the 2008 campaign"

Summary of Findings Voters in the early primary states of Iowa and New Hampshire are being inundated with mail, phone calls and other contacts from the presidential campaigns. In particular, overwhelming majorities of likely voters in both states have received pre-recorded calls, or “robo-calls,” about the campaign. However, far more Democratic voters than Republican voters […]

In a format the public says it prefers -- "regular people," not journalists, posing the questions -- immigration emerged as the hot-button issue. Were the candidates' answers in sync with GOP voters' opinions?

When he formally enters the 2008 race this week, former Sen. Fred Thompson can behave in all ways like a presidential candidate. But on his "testing the waters" website, I'mwithFred.com, he's already been busy reaching out to supporters.

Now that Fred Thompson has formally announced his candidacy for President, his live campaign can begin to match the vigorous cyberspace campaign he's been running for months. In a follow-up to a July 12 report on the Web sites of the other Presidential hopefuls, PEJ finds that Thompson’s full-service site is among the most sophisticated of anyone running--even before he had declared.

Campaign swag and the political network effects of the internet

Despite some criticisms of the format, why are the major GOP candidates wary of the YouTube debates?