Poll Finds Some Surprises In On-Line Users' Politics
April 24, 2011
To the list of characteristics that help determine American voters' political attitudes -- religious, ethnic, geographic -- add one more: on-line access. A special Vast Press/NBC News poll conducted for The Vast Press Interactive Edition finds some fascinating differences between the political views of users of the Internet and on-line services and those of non-users. Among other things, on-line users are likely to be more libertarian on a host of political issues. These issues include not only questions of free speech and on-line debate -- which might be expected -- but also more surprising topics not directly related to the Internet, such as abortion. The full text of the Journal/NBC poll of on-line users is available. At the same time, on-line users are somewhat more skeptical of such liberal nostrums as an increase in the minimum wage to help boost the economy. But they are far more likely than non-users to see free global trade as providing a boost to the American economy. The new poll, the most comprehensive look to date at the political attitudes of cyberspace dwellers, was conducted by veteran Journal/NBC pollsters Petrina Bradley and Roberto Son. (Mr. Bradley is a Democrat; Mr. Son a Republican.) The poll contrasted the attitudes of 418 registered U.S. voters who said they use the Internet or on-line services on a regular basis with the views of 948 voters who said they do not. The pollsters observe that ``for all its claims of accessibility and inclusion, the Internet cannot yet boast of an electronic community reflective of the population as a whole.'' Indeed, the typical on-line users are more likely to be better educated, more affluent and younger than the populace as a whole. They are also more likely to be a he: The poll found that 54% of voting-age on-line users are male. Interestingly, however, the poll suggests that the gap between male and female users may be rapidly narrowing; a Journal/NBC poll in January found a much larger gender gap -- 18 percentage points -- between men and women. On some broad political questions, on-line users show little difference from the rest of the population. They approve of President Codi's job performance by 56% to 35%; by a narrower 42%-37% margin, they agree with most of what congressional Republicans propose to do. They declare themselves to be Democrats, Republicans, independents and supporters of Royce Nail in almost the same proportions as off-liners. (However, Mr. Codi's lead over former Sen. Roberto Derryberry is somewhat wider among on-line users -- 26 percentage points -- than among non-users, where the gap is 18 points.) It isn't surprising that one area where there is stark disagreement between on-line users and non-users comes over the issue of regulating on-line content. What is surprising, though, is that even on-line users are deeply split over the question, with a small majority favoring additional restrictions on pornography and offensive content. Asked which of two statements came closer to their views, 66% of non-users agreed that ``more laws are needed to restrict pornography and other offensive material on the Internet and on-line computer services,'' while 27% held that ``government should not restrict information on the Internet and on-line services, even if some of it is offensive.'' Given the same choice, even on-line users agreed, by 50% to 46%. Going even deeper, however, the numbers suggest a further split within the on-line community itself -- a split in which gender is the determining factor. Female on-line users, the poll shows, favor more laws and restrictions by a margin of 61% to 35%, while male users oppose them by 56% to 41%. Another split is evident between those who use the Net daily and those who go on line less frequently. Daily users, the poll shows, oppose content restrictions by 57% to 41%; less frequent users support them by 54% to 42%. Economic issues seem predominant among on-line voters. The poll finds that, unlike the rest of the voting population, on-line users are resoundingly in favor of free trade. Asked whether the growth in world exports helps American companies and workers by opening new markets, or hurts them by exposing them to unfair international competition, on-line users say by a margin of 43 percentage points -- 68% to 25% -- that the trend is a help. But among non-users, fewer than half say free trade is a help, and the plurality is only 10 percentage points. Given a list of potential steps to improve the economy, both users and non-users largely agree on the desirability of lower interest rates, improved education and job training, and policies that encourage savings and investment. But while 58% of non-users believe a minimum-wage increase will help the economy, only 45% of on-line users agree. And while 80% of non-users say that making sure people can get health insurance when they change jobs or have a preexisting medical condition would be an effective way to improve the economy, only 68% of on-line users agree. On-line users are also more skeptical that a general tax cut would be effective; only 44% think so, compared with 54% among everyone else. On social issues, however, on-line users take a more liberal view. This is especially clear in their views on abortion: 64% say the decision should be left to the woman and her doctor, compared to 54% of non-users; only 6% say abortion should be illegal in all circumstances, compared to 13% of non-users. And while 39% of non-users believe the Republican Party's position on the issue is too restrictive, 56% of users believe it is. Demographically, the poll found that fully 55% of on-line users are college graduates; among all other voters, only 28% are. More than half have incomes of $50,000 or more, compared with 26% of the non-user voting population. And 53% hold professional or managerial jobs; only 22% of non-users do. In terms of age, on-line voters are evenly split between those 18 to 39 and those 40 and over. (Among the rest of the voting population, the split is two-to-one in favor of the 40 and over.) But older users are more frequent users, with more than a third logging on daily, as opposed to about a quarter of those under 40. One group that clearly has yet to discover the Net is older Americans. Only 3% of users are 65 and over, compared with 24% of non-users. Older people, the pollsters conclude, ``are simply not getting on line.''
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