Where does the Internet lay politically?

[JaySpencer]

Is it to the Left, Centrist, or to the Right? In the most recent polls I have seen that Kerry is in the lead, but the phone polls that the media shows in TV is very divergent from that. So where does the internet lay politically and is America a reflection of that, or is the Internet a reflection of a World focus?

[xepherys]

I tend to see the Internet populace as largely centrist, if for no other reason than the lawy of averages. It would make sense that given such a large population, you'd have a more central overall view in the long run.

[pan6467]

It all depends on what you look for. I think if you're right/left and see bias everywhere you'll see the internet as biased the way you expect.

[SecretMethod70]

Everything I've read that has been a semi-serious study of internet political leanings says that it tends to lean Libertarian. Generally, internet users are more liberal when it comes to civil liberties. Beyond that, I think it runs the gammut (sp?) which would explain the high Green support as well.

[Zoz]

I'm certain that the Internet has a higher percentage of libertarians than the 'non-internet' populace, however, Im not sure that's the question he's asking.

It seems that the Internet is more leftist than centrist with respect to social issues... I don't recall anything I read stating that the Internet populace has any stand on fiscal issues..

[irateplatypus]

i think it's much too difficult to make a judgement because international borders are largely nonexistant. in such a big fishbowl... the meaning of conservative and liberal lose their contextual definitions.

if you were to somehow just sample politically active US netizens (i hate that word), i think they would skew a bit conservative (with a libertarian bend) with a disproportionate number of greens on the left end of the spectrum.

[combatmedicjen]

You could also look at it this way (someone correct me if I'm way off base)...

Generally, younger people tend to be more liberal in their views, and older people tend to be more conservative. This is a generality, of course, but mostly holds true.

So, who spends the most time on the internet, and is more likely to respond to these internet polls? In other words, what is the average age of the typical internet user? It's right around 35 years old. We're the computer generation, no? The internet junkies, the PC gamers, the crowd most likely to hog bandwidth downloading all sorts of crap. Older people grew up without computers and feel less of a need to use them, or may be overall intimidated by them, but we were raised with a mouse in our hand. Younger (and generally more liberally-viewing) people are simply more likely to respond to online polls.

So yes, I belive that internet users lean ever so slightly to the left. When they poll people on the internet I absolutely doesn't surprise me that Kerry is ahead, although every other survey shows Bush leading. Now, if only more young peopel would actually go and vote...

[SecretMethod70]

Originally Posted by Zoz

I'm certain that the Internet has a higher percentage of libertarians than the 'non-internet' populace, however, Im not sure that's the question he's asking.

It seems that the Internet is more leftist than centrist with respect to social issues... I don't recall anything I read stating that the Internet populace has any stand on fiscal issues..

That's also not what I said. I said everything I've read has stated that the populace of the internet tends to lean Libertarian - not compared to the non-internet populace, just in general. Aside for that, I think you're right - no particular stand on fiscal issues, more liberal to, at least, centrist on social issues. Hence the heavy Libertarian and Green leanings of internet users.

[SecretMethod70]

Originally Posted by combatmedicjen

You could also look at it this way (someone correct me if I'm way off base)...

Generally, younger people tend to be more liberal in their views, and older people tend to be more conservative. This is a generality, of course, but mostly holds true.

So, who spends the most time on the internet, and is more likely to respond to these internet polls? In other words, what is the average age of the typical internet user? It's right around 35 years old. We're the computer generation, no? The internet junkies, the PC gamers, the crowd most likely to hog bandwidth downloading all sorts of crap. Older people grew up without computers and feel less of a need to use them, or may be overall intimidated by them, but we were raised with a mouse in our hand. Younger (and generally more liberally-viewing) people are simply more likely to respond to online polls.

So yes, I belive that internet users lean ever so slightly to the left. When they poll people on the internet I absolutely doesn't surprise me that Kerry is ahead, although every other survey shows Bush leading. Now, if only more young peopel would actually go and vote...

That's actually surprisingly not true. It's a myth that we've spent a lot of time looking at statistics regarding in a political parties class that I'm taking and most party affiliations are set by 6th grade or so. It's pretty static from that ponit on. Parents are having less affect on party ID recently, but that effect is being replaced by media influence and other things. Nonetheless, by 6th grade or so, most party IDs are generally set, and PID is fairly consistant in most people for the rest of their life.

The change that DOES occur with age is that PID becomes stronger as one gets older typically.