The Internet has fundamentally transformed how voters receive information, and in this year’s Republican primary Google has helped change the way voters follow elections.  From partnering with the Republican Party of Iowa to show real-time caucus results to using our Insights for Search tool to see how searches for candidates in key states track with news events, Google’s Politics & Elections team has helped connect voters to relevant information.  To complement our online efforts, Google recently hired leading polling firm Public Opinion Strategies to go "offline" to find out how likely Republican primary voters in South Carolina are receiving information by conducting a telephone poll of 500 likely voters on January 17 and January 18.

The results show that even in South Carolina, which according to the U.S. Department of Commerce is sixth-to-last in the nation in overall use of the Internet, a surprisingly high number of likely Republican primary voters have gone online to follow the election.

Our findings in South Carolina reaffirm that campaigns which do not fully embrace the Internet as a means to engage voters -- for fundraising, persuasion, and turnout -- do so at their own peril.

Even in a state where a significant overall percentage of residents are not online, a substantial majority of likely voters in Saturday’s Republican primary have gone online to get their news about the election -- and have also used search engines to check the information they receiving. The habits of Republican voters in South Carolina show the incredible opportunity the Internet provides political campaigns to effectively reach targeted voters at the most important moment -- when those voters are actively seeking information about the campaign.

The findings include:
  • 70% of likely Republican voters in South Carolina, about the same percentage of the population that has Internet access, have gone online to gather information about Saturday's election.  This means that most Republicans who enter voting booths tomorrow will do so with an opinion that has been shaped by what they saw online.


  • 62% of likely Republican voters in South Carolina who have searched online have used a search engine to check information they saw elsewhere, a number that holds up among supporters of all the candidates (and, surprisingly, even 43% of voters 65+ had used a search engine to check information they had learned about a candidate). 



Just as consumers use the Internet to conduct research before purchasing a product, they’re researching information about candidates before casting their ballots.  And it is clear that the political advertising landscape is adapting along with these shifts in voter behavior, as the poll indicates that nearly half of Republican primary voters recall seeing an ad for one of the presidential candidates while online. Voters' video consumption is also changing, with one-third of likely Republican primary voters (again, in the sixth-least wired state in the nation) watching candidate commercials or videos online.    Other than television news or newspaper websites, where do they consume the video?  Thirteen percent said the YouTube website, ahead of both candidate websites and social networking websites.




Interestingly, the most “tuned-in” primary voters, like those who watched all of Monday’s debate, say that they are more likely to have checked information using an online search. Of those likely to vote, more than 60% watched all or some of the debate on Monday -- and of them, more than 60% have checked information using an online search.

While the outcome in tomorrow’s election is uncertain, Google and Public Opinion Strategies’ findings, coupled with the trends we’re seeing across the political landscape, quantify just how fundamentally the Internet is impacting American politics.


Posted by: Rob Saliterman, Google Politics & Elections Team and Robert Blizzard, Vice President, Public Opinion Strategies