Almost 50% of Alabamians now use the internet each week to consume political news according to polling data from GOP polling firm McLaughlin & Associates. Regular readers will recall that over the last couple of weeks we have been breaking down numbers found in a Mclaughlin poll that was presented to the House & Senate Republican caucuses.
We started with the political makeup of the Alabama electorate. Then last week we broke down how Alabamians trust Republicans more on every issue, including issues that were once Democrat strongholds. This week, we’re taking a look at how Alabamians consume their political news.
Here’s what we found:
– 47% of Alabamians use the internet at least once a week to consume political news, including 31% who say they get news online every day or almost every day.
– 56% of Republicans in Alabama get their political news online at least once a week compared to only 31% of Democrats and 55% of independents who do the same.
When asked which social network they would most likely use to connect with political candidates or advocacy groups, here’s what Alabamians said:
– 47% said Facebook, including 40% of Republicans, 60% of Democrats and 50% of Independents
– 9% said Twitter including 9% of Republicans, 12% of Democrats and 8% of Independents
– 8% said YouTube including 10% of Republicans, 6% of Democrats and 7% of Independents
A revealing Pew Research study pointed out in September that the number of people in America who rely on social media as a news source has doubled since just 2010. According to the Pew study, social media has surpassed newspapers and now equals TV as a primary source of news.
Only 23% of people who responded to the Pew poll said they’d read a print newspaper the day before. That’s down almost 50% from 2000.
The graph to the right shows the way Americans consume news has changed over time.
Alabama may be slightly behind the country as a whole when it comes to consuming news online, but as we move toward the 2014 election cycle and beyond, websites, blogs and social networks will undoubtedly play a larger and larger role in Alabama politics.
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