More voters rely on the Internet – Rasmussen.

Image: By ‘Maksim’ at The Peoples Cube.

Most people have known for some time that the net was becoming more prominent across the world and has been increasingly influential in the political discourse of the election cycle. We have all noticed the decline of most newspapers and the demise of some attributed to the rise of the net, the increasing use of its power by politicians, and the successful use of it to get the message across.

Many of us rely on it as a primary source of information without recognizing the degree to which it has become just that. A recent Rasmussen poll tells us that almost a quarter of voters rely on it for political news:

Most voters will continue to rely on either cable or traditional television news to stay up with politics this year, but the Internet will provide the election coverage for a quarter of the nation.

A new Rasmussen Reports national telephone survey finds that 32% of Likely U.S. Voters will get most of their political news in 2012 from cable television and 22% from traditional TV network news. The number following the election news online has inched above the audience for traditional TV networks. Twenty-four percent (24%) will primarily rely on the Internet for coverage of Election 2012. Nine percent (9%) who will still rely on print newspapers and seven percent (7%) will chiefly count on radio.

The big advantage of the net as opposed to mainstream media is the almost infinite variety of information available to those wishing to check out what is really going on. Whereas the mainstream media tend to follow a line and report news as it applies to the thinking of the organization, the more anarchic nature of the net allows the user to track down the real story.

Not all of what you read on the net is true, (as Abraham Lincoln pointed out ☺ ) but those who are net savvy are aware of this and are not taken in by sites like those of the White House or Debbie Wasserman Schultz.