Despite the rise of the digital age in campaigning, a new study shows that just around half of voters expect an online presence from campaigns.
The study from the E-Voter Institute shows that 41% of voters expect campaigns to use Twitter, 50% expect them to be on social network sites and 54% expect them to post online video.
Click Z reports that most campaigns still see the online universe as a fundraising tool, which does pay benefits.
Though some innovative campaigns use the Web to persuade voters, spur volunteer activism, or get out the vote, most see the Internet mainly as a fundraising platform. E-mail is a key tool used by campaigns to generate donations, and they often ask supporters to give towards a particular fundraising goal. According to the study, 53 percent of those surveyed said they gave to a campaign because they "wanted to help the candidate or cause reach a target fundraising goal."
The fundraising goal approach seems to work better on Democrats and Independents than on Republicans, the study suggests. Fifty percent of Democrats and 61 percent of Independents said they have given to a campaign to help reach a fundraising goal, while 46 percent of Republicans said the same.
The study also shows that online fundraising gets a better response from Democrats than Republicans. 40% of Democrats say they’ve donated in response to an e-mail or other online appeal, just 18% of Republicans have have done the same. 43% of Democrats say they’ve donated via a candidate’s website, but just 33% of Republicans have.
One emerging arena for political giving is through mobile devices. 15% of Demcorats and just 2% of Republicans say they’ve donated via mobile device.
Post a Comment