ONLINE CAMPAIGN STRATEGY, Web 2.0 TOOLS, AND VOTER PREFERENCE IN THE 2008 U.S. PRESIDENTIAL ELECTION
ONLINE CAMPAIGN STRATEGY, Web 2.0 TOOLS, AND VOTER PREFERENCE IN THE 2008 U.S. PRESIDENTIAL ELECTION

Summary/Abstract: Can particular campaign strategies influence voters? How and why do campaigns adopt such strategies and how do these strategies help the campaign effort? Using journalistic and professional accounts to describe Barack Obama’s and John McCain’s presidential campaigns and their online strategies focused on Web 2.0 tools, the author argues that Obama’s strategy was more innovative, comprehensive, and gave him an advantage in online campaigning over McCain. Using polling data from the Pew Research Center’s Mid-October Election Survey, the extent to which voter engagement with campaign Web sites in fostering candidate support is presented. The study claims that campaign strategies do have an effect on voter preferences and that engaging with candidates via their Web sites greatly increases partisan voter support for candidates.

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