The biggest ever survey of how the internet affected the 2001 general election today reveals that young people were nearly three times more likely to use the web to find out about politics than older generations.
Nearly 2,000 computer users were questioned about the sites they visited and emails sent during this year's campaign.
The results, published by the Hansard society, will reopen the debate on how far Britain still has to go before becoming an "e-democracy".
The poll, carried out by Mori, found huge discrepancies between age groups and party allegiances in how voters used the internet.
The survey revealed that 21% of 18-24 year-olds logged on to learn more about party policies - compared with just 8% of 25-44 year-olds.
That figure rose slightly again among the "grey vote" of 55-64 year-olds, 12% of whom used the internet to find out more about the three main party's policies.
Dr Stephen Coleman, director of the Hansard society, commented: "These findings point to a trend: younger voters are much more interested in the internet as a route to politics than are older voters; these are the voters of the future, so e-politics is here to stay and in future elections this generation of voters and those following them will be targeted much more successfully by e-campaigners.
The internet and e-mail influenced the voting choices of twice as many Liberal Democrats (9%) as Conservatives (5%) and had much more influence upon 18-24 year-olds (17% of whom reported that the internet was a very or fairly important influence on their voting) than upon older voters, under 5% of whom reported any e-influence upon their voting.
Other unique insights from the survey reveal that the Liberal Democrats have the most wired-up supporters, with nearly half of all their voters being online.
This provided a clear resource for the cash-strapped third party during the election campaign, who used daily emails to keep supporters informed of campaigning and policy issues.
And it contrasts sharply with Labour, only 29% of whose supporters use the internet.
Another gulf was between the genders. Mori's face-to-face interviews found that a staggering 97% of users of political chatrooms were male.
Conversely, more women than men used emails to talk about the election and their voting intentions.
One in ten of all voters with internet access visited politics sites such as Guardian Unlimited politics to find out more about the contest.
US polls show that people with internet access are more likely to vote than those without. But the UK situation is different: 23% of respondents without internet access didn't vote, against 25% with internet access who didn't vote.
This is explained by the high number of young non-voters with internet access being outweighed by the high number of older voters who are least likely to be online.
Other facts and figures from the survey showed:
• 5% of Labour and Liberal Democrat voters visited humour or game sites, compared with only 3% of Conservative voters.
• 3% of respondents sought information online about how to vote tactically - with women being more likely than men to do this.
The report, sponsored by British Telecom, will be formally launched at a discussion event in Westminster tonight, with contributions from Billy Bragg, Polly Toynbee, Chris Quigley (the creator of "Egg Prescott") and Dr Stephen Coleman, director of the Hansard Society E-democracy programme.
• The report will be launched at a debate and reception at 6.30 pm, Monday July 23, Institute of Mechanical Engineers, 1 Birdcage Walk, Westminster.
Related article
15.06.2001: The not-quite Cyber Election
Special Report
Election 2001
Useful link
The Hansard Society
