Meanwhile, don't forget that (just like older voters) a majority of young adults rely much more on television news, as well as newspapers and magazines, when making voting decisions, than on the Internet.

And a majority of young adults-just like older voters-say they mainly rely on newspapers and magazines, along with television news, to gather information in making voting decisions, with the Internet lagging far behind.

Internet Campaigning

No silver bullet: Because younger voters spend more time online than older voters, conventional wisdom says that the Internet is the best way to reach them. Actually, it is merely one good way to reach some selected young adults, and potentially a poor way to contact most of them. A critical factor is knowing which ones you are trying to reach.

A November 2003 survey by Lake Snell Perry & Associates and the Tarrance Group found: among the most receptive groups will likely be young people least engaged in the community or political process -- those not registered to vote; Independents; political moderates; infrequent church goers/nonreligious and non-college youth.

Liberal Democrats and conservative Republicans are particularly responsive to online chat rooms, issue-oriented campaign email, and Meetup.org events -- suggesting that ideological partisans use these sources to find likeminded youth.

Internet communications techniques are likely to work well during the primary season since partisans and ideologues are generally more engaged in the political process at that time than are Independents or moderates.

Not surprisingly, among the least receptive groups to contact via the Internet will likely be the young people least engaged in the community or political process -- those not registered to vote; Independents; political moderates; infrequent church goers/nonreligious and non-college youth.

What Works and What Doesn't: Some Internet-based campaign methods are likely more effective than others, and some will actually turn many young people off. The dividing line: methods that invite young people to interact with others versus those that are unsolicited.

When asked to rate eight techniques to which they would be most likely to pay attention, three of the four methods young people mentioned most were interactive - online chat rooms, campaign weblogs, and campaign sponsored events organized by Meetup.org.

Likewise, all four of the least popular methods involved unsolicited contact: emails with campaign updates, emails urging voter turnout, banner ads, and text messaging to handheld devices. Text messaging proved particularly unpopular, perhaps because many wireless services charge users for each message they receive.

Voting Decisions

Just because the Internet is an inexpensive way to contact voters, doesn't mean it's an effective method of influencing their voting decisions. As it turns out, young people are much more likely to rely on a range of information sources before they use information from the Internet.

Like older voters, traditional media channels like newspapers/magazines and TV news are still the most important influence on young people's voting decisions. Close behind are friends and family members and candidate debates. Only after these four do young people say they will rely on information from the Internet in deciding their vote. Most importantly, no demographic group cites the Internet as more important than traditional news sources such as newspapers/magazines and television programs.

Trust and Accuracy

Interestingly, young people do trust the information they get from the Internet. They say that they are equally trusting of the Internet and newspapers/television - and believe these sources are equally accurate. A specific kind of source they trust are the online candidate profiles produced by nonpartisan civic organizations such as Project Vote Smart or the League of Women Voters' DemocracyNet (DNet). Young adults say they know and trust them to deliver objective information about candidates and their positions.

For more information, see CYV's survey website at .