Internet use doubles in White House race - survey

By Andy Sullivan

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The Internet now plays a central role in U.S. politics, with nearly half of all Americans using the Web and other new media to follow the presidential campaign, says a study released on Sunday.

Some 17 percent of all adults said they daily scoured political websites, read campaign e-mails and text messages, or otherwise used the Internet to keep up with the election, the Pew Internet and American Life Project found.

That's more than double the 8 percent of adults who followed on the Internet daily at the same point in the 2004 race. The figure is likely to grow even more by the November election, said Lee Rainie, the nonprofit group's director.

"We've seen an evolution of the Internet and its role in politics that has been pretty striking," Rainie said.

Supporters of Democratic candidate Barack Obama and John McCain, his Republican rival, showed similar rates of Internet use, the study found.

But the study pointed to a Democratic edge. Sixty-five percent of Obama supporters said they followed politics online, compared to 56 percent of McCain supporters.

The nonprofit group polled 2,251 adults in April and May. The study has a margin of error of 2 percentage points.

The Internet has played a growing role in presidential races since 1996, when Republican challenger Bob Dole gave out the wrong address for his Web site during a debate with Democratic President Bill Clinton.