The Internet - Political Turn-On or Turn-off?

1
The Internet - Political Turn-On or Turn-off?

• John Curtice
• Strathclyde University/
• National Centre for Social Research

2
The Project

• Modules on British Social Attitudes 2003 and
  2005 plus previous info from 2000
• Examine relationship between internet use and
  (1) political engagement, (2) social capital
• Main N3297 (2003) 3167 (2005)
• 2005 module fielded after general election

3
The Structure

• Has access to the internet helped to increase the
  political engagement of individual voters?
• What role did the internet play in the
  dissemination of information in the 2005
  election?

4
A turned on voter

• trusts politicians government
• participates in politics

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Why might internet turn people on?

• Greater transparency and availability of
  information
• Lower cost - do it from home
• Lower cost - easier to organise
• Easier to find fellow adherents

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The Problem

• If at one point in time internet users are more
  trusting and/or active
• is that because they use the internet
• or, because they were more trusting and/or active
  in the first place?

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Trust by Length of Use
8
System Efficacy by Use
9
Personal Efficacy by Use
10
MPs lose touch
11
Politics too complicated
12
Interest in Politics
13
Interest in Politics
14
Political Participation
15
Gone on demo
16
Contacted MP
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Conclusion

• (Already) politically active were early internet
  adopters and use it as one way of pursuing their
  interest
• But internet does not (substantially) increase
  how many people are politically engaged

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But does this miss the point?

• Argument assumes that internet only has a direct
  impact
• website -gt user
• Possibility of two-step flow.
• website -gt user -gt others
• Fragmentation means two-step flows now only way
  any medium has an impact?

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Acquiring information
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The Usual Suspects?
Traditional Digital
Men v v
Educated v v
Strong ID v v
Interested in Politics v v v v
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Election Talk
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Who Talks Most?
Interested in Politics 68.38
Age - (younger) 55.04
Education (more) 34.35
Strong party id 8.99
Female 5.74
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Do Digital Users Talk?
Traditional User 224.24
Digital User 36.16
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Conclusion

• Still the case that few people use the internet
  to find out about politics
• Those that do are mostly the usual suspects
• Nevertheless digital users are particularly
  talkative - and so add a little more to the
  two-step flow of information