If Chuck Norris endorses Mike Huckabee in an online video, does he make a noise? According to a new study by Harris Interactive, not as loud as you might think.
Although 81% of U.S. adults who are online have watched a video on the Web, just over a third (35%) have watched any kind of political video, the Harris poll found. The poll questioned 2,455 U.S. online users 18 and up Nov. 7-13, 2007.
In terms of the types of political video they have seen, 27% of those respondents who saw one said it was a news story about a campaign or candidate. Fourteen percent said they had watched an online interview with one of the candidates, and the same proportion said they had viewed a political speech. Only 11% reported watching a political ad online, and only 10% said they had viewed a campaign video.
On a partisan basis, Democrats are somewhat more likely than Republicans or independents to have seen an online political video, by a ratio of40% to 35% to 33%. Those proportions hold true for every kind of video. Democrats are also more likely than Republicans to watch online video to help them decide where to put their vote (59% versus 46%). Republicans are more likely than Dems to watch videos for candidates they know they will not support (39% versus 31%).
While only 35% of online adults say they’ve seen political Web videos, that translates into a sizeable audience of 62 million could-be constituents. But the Internet does not seem to solve the media exposure problems of candidates stressed for ad funding. Only 7% of respondents said they would watch more political speeches if more were available online, compared to 36% who would not watch any more. And only 4% said they would watch a lot more campaign ads over the Web, while 41% said they would not watch any more.
