Internet redefines US politics

Online campaigning is transforming United States politics and empowering individual voters dwarfed by the might of the print and broadcast media, the author of a major new Internet use survey said on Friday.

The online revolution could even allow a third-party candidate to break the two-party Republican-Democrat monopoly of US politics, said Jeffrey Cole, who penned the major University of Southern California (USC) study due to be released on December 6.

"The Internet will forever change the course and nature of American politics," Mr Cole said. "The Internet is no longer a marginal force in American politics - it is quickly becoming the central force in empowering voters."

Mr Cole said at an advance briefing on the survey results for congressional staffers that 40 per cent of Internet users now believe going online can give people more political power.

Internet campaigning was largely credited for the insurgent political campaign of former Vermont Governor Howard Dean, who rode a wave of online fundraising and lobbying before last year's political nominating season.

Though Mr Dean's surprising campaign eventually folded, as John Kerry surged to the Democratic nomination, his challenge is seen by many US political observers as a watershed for the Internet's role in US politics.

Mr Cole suggested, in the briefing to staffers from both major parties in the US Capitol, that the rising role of the Internet may "see the first successful rise of a third-party candidate for 150 years".

The Internet and politics is one of nine trends analysed in this, the fifth annual survey of the USC Annenberg School Centre for the Digital Future.

Data on the growing impact of broadband, how people surf the Web, and how Internet users assess the credibility of the exploding amount of information available online, will be released by USC on Tuesday.

Study results also track the most popular uses of the internet: this year's study shows that email is the top task conducted online, followed by general surfing, reading news, shopping and seeking entertainment news.