Internet surpasses radio for political news

WASHINGTON - The Internet surpassed radio as a source for political news in the United States last year as more people went online to keep up with the presidential election campaign, according to a new report released on Sunday.

Twenty-nine percent of U.S. adults used the Internet to get political news last year, according to the Pew Internet and American Life Project. That's up from 4 percent in 1996 and 18 percent in 2000.

Television remained the dominant medium for most voters, but 18 percent said they got most of their political news from the Internet, compared with 17 percent who said they turned to the radio for their news.

For those with a broadband connection at home, the Internet rivaled newspapers in importance.

Most Internet users surveyed said they voted to re-elect Republican President George W. Bush, but supporters of Democratic challenger Sen. John Kerry were more likely to say the Internet helped them settle on a candidate.

The nonpartisan Pew Internet and American Life Project surveyed 2,200 U.S. adults between Nov. 4 and Nov. 24, 2004. The survey's margin of error was plus or minus two percentage points, or plus or minus three percentage points for questions that surveyed the smaller subset of Internet users.