1 / 19

The Internet and Electoral Behaviour

The Internet and Electoral Behaviour. Rachel K. Gibson and Ian McAllister Australian National University 30th May 2005, Parliament House . Rachel.Gibson@anu.edu.au Ian.McAllister@anu.edu.au. Australian Election Study Voter Surveys. Australian Candidate Study Surveys.

awena
Download Presentation

The Internet and Electoral Behaviour

An Image/Link below is provided (as is) to download presentation Download Policy: Content on the Website is provided to you AS IS for your information and personal use and may not be sold / licensed / shared on other websites without getting consent from its author. Content is provided to you AS IS for your information and personal use only. Download presentation by click this link. While downloading, if for some reason you are not able to download a presentation, the publisher may have deleted the file from their server. During download, if you can't get a presentation, the file might be deleted by the publisher.

E N D

Presentation Transcript

  1. The Internet and Electoral Behaviour Rachel K. Gibson and Ian McAllister Australian National University 30th May 2005, Parliament House. Rachel.Gibson@anu.edu.au Ian.McAllister@anu.edu.au

  2. Australian Election Study Voter Surveys

  3. Australian Candidate Study Surveys

  4. Trends in Election Campaigns • General political interest has increased… • …but campaign involvement has declined • …volatility has increased • …and attention to traditional media sources has declined

  5. General Political Interest

  6. Campaign Involvement and Interest

  7. Indicators of Campaign Volatility

  8. Attention to Media Sources During the Campaign

  9. Growth in Audience for Online Election News and Info: 1998 to 2004 Qu: Did you make use of the internet at all to get news or information about the 2004 federal election? Source: Australian Election Studies 1998, 2001, 2004

  10. 2004 Online Election Information: Internet Users • Have access but did not use 82% • Have access and did use 18% • Once or twice 8% • Several times 5% • Many times 5% N =1,160 Source: Australian Election Study 2004

  11. Where are online users going for news and information? Online info seekersInternet users • Party sites 27% 5% • Own MP’s site 11% 2% • Candidate in electorate 9% 2% • Candidate (other) 7% 2% • Federal parliament 12% 3% • AEC site 30% 8% • Fun/political humour 23% 5% • Opinion poll 20% 5% • Mainstream news 51% 12% • Blog 6% 1% N=208 N=1,160 Source: Australian Election Study 2004

  12. Candidates use of the Internet for election news and info in 2004 Qu: Did you make use of the internet at all to get news or information about the 2004 federal election? Source: Australian Candidate Study 2004

  13. Where are candidates going for online news and information? • Own Party sites 89% • AEC site 80% • Mainstream news 64% • Own MP’s site 62% • Other candidate in electorate 50% N=535 Source: Australian Election Study 2004

  14. Candidate websites in 2001 and 2004 2001 Overall sample size = 477 37% candidates reported having personal website (N=169/455) 2004 Overall sample size = 535 32% candidates reported having personal website (N=165/518)

  15. Who ran a campaign website in 2001 and 2004? Qu: Did you maintain a personal website on the internet as part of your election campaign in the electorate? Source: Australian Candidate Study 2004

  16. Factors predicting use of campaign website in 2004 Multivariate analysis - variables of significance • Party - Green • Age - Younger • Legislative experience - Incumbents • Chamber - Lower House

  17. Effect of website on candidates’ electoral support in 2004 Multivariate analysis - variables of significance • Incumbent - increases vote by 13% on average • Party experience - every year member of party increase vote on average 0.7% • Party activities - for every extra 1 hour per week increase vote by 0.1% • Preparation time - for every extra month of preparation increase vote by 0.3% • Website - if have a website increase vote by 4%

  18. Why is the website increasing the vote? • Indirect Effects • Web as a proxy for candidate preparedness/professionalism? • Web as a proxy for high media coverage? • Web as a proxy for other intangible quality of good candidate? • Direct Effects • 12% of public using Internet for election info. were affected by they saw?

  19. The case for direct effects?

More Related