Election Campaigning on the WWW in the USA and UK

Abstract

This article is a comparative analysis of British and American parties and candidate election campaigning on the World Wide Web during the Presidential and General Elections of 2000 and 2001, respectively. The central questions are twofold: (1) Do parties differ across the two systems in terms of how they use the Web as a campaign tool? (2) Does the Web promote a more balanced or equalized exposure for party messages than other media? A combination of interview data, content analysis of sites and analysis of online and offline media coverage of the election is used to investigate these questions. Conclusions are drawn about the similarity of Web campaigning across the two countries and about the increasing dominance of the major parties, particularly in the UK.

Politics at Home

“…However, research has shown similar trends in political engagement across Western Europe and North America, e.g. in the growth of web-based campaigning [13] and decline in youth engagement [11]. We thus have reason to believe that our findings may have broader applicability across this region, although further research would be needed to verify this.…”

Comunicación organizacional ante el reto de la estrategia multiplataforma y 2.0: la experiencia de los partidos políticos en el País Vasco

“…De hecho, la actividad de los sitios web políticos varía sustancialmente dentro y fuera de los períodos electorales (Vaccari, 2008;Gibson et al, 2003; ValeraOrdaz; López-García, 2014), y lo mismo podría decirse del uso de las redes sociales (Vergeer; Hermans; Sams, 2011; Spyridou; Veglis, 2011; Macnamara; Sakinofsky; Beattie, 2012).…”

Online Opposition and Elections in Malaysia

“…Many studies in US web campaign support the normalization theory as 'no-change' occurred (Norris, 2003), while studies on other countries such as the UK tend to be inconsistent (e.g. Gibson et al, 2003Gibson et al, & 2000Newell, 2001). Some researchers argued it depends on the national and institutional context (e.g.…”

“…Some researchers argued it depends on the national and institutional context (e.g. Gibson et al, 2003). Kluver (2004) also notes that political culture plays a significant role in contextualising and limiting the effect of new media on political practice.…”

“…Bimber & Davis, 2003;Gibson et al, 2003;Margolis & Resnick, 2000). Those who advocate the 'equalization' theory argue that the Internet could serve to equalize the electoral playing field among political parties.…”