Political Information Efficacy and Internet Effects in the 2008 U.S. Presidential Election

Abstract

Despite the increase in young adult political engagement during the early part of the twenty-first century, young adult voting rates remain relatively low. This study explores the effects of Internet messages on young adult political efficacy and political information efficacy through a pretest/posttest experiment. Young voters ( N = 486) reported significantly increased political efficacy and political information efficacy following exposure to several experimental stimuli; however, young women in the sample lag behind their male counterparts with regard to the confidence in their political information. Perhaps not surprisingly, Democrat participants were significantly higher in political efficacy in the days prior to the 2008 U.S. presidential election as it seemed likely that their candidate would win the election. Exposure to a negative media presentation of young voters did not appear to thwart young adult political information efficacy. More research spanning citizen-citizen, candidate-citizen, media-citizen, and party-citizen online messages and their effects is warranted.