How Is The Internet Affecting Political Participation

Since the late 90’s the Internet has made an impact on politics most notably in the 2008 and 2012 elections here in America. As of 2012, 81% of Americans use the Internet. Politicians have been using the Internet as a way to advertise, raise money, organize support, and etc. to constituents and voters. As the Internet continues to play a role in campaigning, activism, and governance people wonder how the Internet is impacting political participation. This thesis will focus on how the Internet is affecting political participation in the United States.

The research for this paper will mostly look into 1992 to 2012 elections and how the Internet affected political participation. Has participation grown since 1992? And if so how much has it grown? Did certain years see low participation and why? I suspect that participation has grown since 1992 and that each election year saw an increase in participation. The participation that will be measured are party identification, voter turnout, interest in politics, and etc. And groups that will be measured are education, income, age, and etc.

Social capital is the mutual trust and cooperation that arises from the web of connections among people involved in organizations and

Political participation ranges from voting to attending a rally to sending a letter to a representative. Most citizens feel that some level of political participation is admirable and, participating in politics out of a sense of the following: idealism: some participate because they believe strongly in a particular idea, responsibility: for many, participation is a responsibility of democratic citizenship, self-interest: a person might work to promote issues and causes that personally profit that person, and enjoyment: some simply enjoy public activity, either because of the activity itself or because of the friends they make while politically