Posted on 12/03/2005 10:55:20 PM PST by sourcery
Online campaigning is transforming US politics and empowering individual voters dwarfed by the might of the print and broadcast media, the author of a major new Internet use survey said.
The online revolution could even allow a third-party candidate to break the two-party Republican/Democrat monopoly of US politics, said Jeffrey Cole, who penned the major University of Southern California (USC) study due to be released on December 6.
"The Internet will forever change the course and nature of American politics," Cole said.
"The Internet is no longer a marginal force in American politics -- it is quickly becoming the central force in empowering voters," Cole said.
Cole said at an advance briefing on the survey results for congressional staffers that 40 percent of Internet users now believe going online can give people more political power.
Internet campaigning was largely credited for the insurgent political campaign of former Vermont Governor Howard Dean, who rode a wave of online fundraising and lobbying ahead of the 2004 political nominating season.
Though Dean's surprising campaign eventually folded, as John Kerry surged to the Democratic nomination, his challenge is seen by many US political observers as a watershed for the Internet's role in US politics.
Cole suggested, in the briefing to staffers from both major parties in the US Capitol, that the rising role of the Internet may "see the first successful rise of a third party candidate for 150 years."
The Internet and politics is one of nine trends analyzed in this, the fifth annual survey of the USC Annenberg School Center for the Digital Future.
Data on the growing impact of broadband, how people surf the web, and how Internet users assess the credibility of the exploding amount of information available online, will be released by USC on Tuesday.
Study results also track the most popular uses of the internet : this year's study shows that email is the top task conducted online, followed by general surfing, reading news, shopping and seeking entertainment news.
BTTT
Ross Perot destroyed any third party hopes for at least 30 years.
Maybe it's becuse it's early Sunday morning, but I don't think another cup of coffee is going to clear up my confusion. I see NOTHING in the article that convinces me that the internet will help a third party.
Any money spent by an indie will be matched or exceeded by the two major parties.
The writer makes the assumption that only the third parties will be using the internet.
I'm wondering what sort of spanner she will throw into the internet machinery to prevent it from working over her.
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