Internet connects, energizes voters

Does it seem like our red-blue-and-green politics are all spin and sound bites?

Well, think again.

In this presidential election year, online politicking has become an alternate way to energize voters. And it seems to be working.

Already, thousands of potential voters are donating money and signing up as volunteers via the Web. These people are called Online Political Citizens, or OPCs, by the Institute for Politics, Democracy and the Internet, a foundation administered by the George Washington University Graduate School of Political Management. OPCs are not cyber-geeks; they’re opinion leaders and voters who appear to have relatively high incomes and are significantly more likely to donate money to candidates.

According to the Institute for Politics, Democracy and the Internet, as early as December of last year 46 percent of the OPCs had already made contributions to a candidate or political party compared with 10 percent of the general public, and of the 87 percent of the OPCs who receive political e-mail, 66 percent forwarded that e-mail to friends and colleagues.

This translates to a cyberspace battleground that uses 21st century tools such as Web ads, Web videos, Web games, and e-mail.

It’s obvious that candidates are trying to exploit the interactive, instantaneous nature of the medium’s political benefits.

For example, if you type the name of Democratic presidential nominee “John Kerry” into the search engine Google, you’ll get a Republican National Committee ad for its kerryoniraq.com web site; Kerry, in turn, advertises on the New York Times’ Web site and others.

Certainly, no one really believes that the White House will be won by the candidate who has the better Web site or the higher click-through rate on Internet ads. But it’s clear that the Internet is a powerful weapon.

Consider, for example, the political parody site JibJab.com, which drew 10.4 million unique visitors in one month. JibJab’s online video, released in mid-July, satirized Kerry and Bush to the tune of “This Land is Your Land.” The lampoon ultimately sent users to both JohnKerry.com and GeorgeWBush.com for more information about the candidates.

The momentum is undeniable. Like traditional activists, Online Political Citizens are passionate about the issues, policies, and candidates. Evidence includes the surging popularity of political discussion groups; the organization of local events through sites such as Meetup (best known for Howard Dean’s grassroots campaign); and the reading and posting of comments on blogs. Blogs are journals that are regularly updated with new commentary and/or links about a particular topic.

It’s worth noting that this year’s political involvement by the OPCs is different than any other campaign. Online involvement is more focused on communication and the national campaign than on local politics, such as running for local office or serving on a local committee.

It also appears that online campaigns matter. The Institute for Politics, Democracy and the Internet anticipates that people who have previously donated online will be likely to do it again. And those who are researching and discussing candidates on the Internet will be voting in November.

Maybe the American political process is being reinvigorated by the Internet. Or maybe, for the first time in history, candidates are strategically and tactically using the medium just right.