OCTOBER 1999 IN
RICK ASTER’S WORLD
The political process is continually changing, and it is often in presidential politics that new changes become evident. The 2000 presidential election in the United States is already starting to look different from anything that happened before, and the World Wide Web seems to have a lot to do with the changes taking place.
It is candidates’ web sites that have become the focal point of the early stages of campaigning, and it is easy to see why. I’ve heard from many of my friends, including ones who would not consider themselves interested in politics, who have visited the web sites of some of the leading candidates for President. That in itself is remarkable. But the really remarkable thing is that these potential voters, having spent half an hour or less reading a candidate’s web site, know more about the candidate than you would ever expect an American voter to know.
Voters traditionally have learned about candidates primarily through news reports, rumors, and other forms of hearsay. Advertising also helps shape people’s views of candidates, but political advertisements are so few in number, so biased, and so short on substance that people don’t want to rely on them. Look at the campaign process this way, and it is easy to see how a well-designed web site can tell a voter more information than he or she would be likely to learn through the traditional media in an entire season of campaigning.
The United States has never had a presidential election with voters this well informed. Political pundits are already surprised at the way Democratic voters are turning away from apparent front-runner Al Gore, and this is attributed in part to the weak message that voters perceive at Gore’s web site. Changes in the political process could lead to many more surprises as the 2000 campaign unfolds.
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