MySpace to Issue Monthly Poll Results Leading Up to 2008 Election
Premier Poll Indicates MySpace Community Gets Their Political Fix
Online, Kicks Party Affiliations to the Curb, Has ''War on Terror''
Top of Mind, and is Extremely Likely to Vote in Primary and National
Election
New Poll Reveals the MySpace Generation's Political Views One Year
Prior to Presidential Election
LOS ANGELES--(Business Wire)--MySpace, the world's most popular social network, today announced
the results of the new "Impact Presidential Poll," the first monthly
results in a series of political polls to be conducted exclusively of
the MySpace community leading up to the 2008 general presidential
election. The Impact Presidential Poll unveils the political views and
engagement of the 'MySpace Generation,' providing an early view into
the perspective of America's young adults.
"One year before the national presidential election, the Impact
Presidential Poll highlights where the MySpace Generation stands,"
said Jeff Berman, Senior Vice President of Public Affairs at MySpace.
"We can't wait to see how MySpace users' views evolve in the run-up to
next November."
Key findings include:
MySpace Generation Gets Their Political Fix Online(1) - MySpace
users over-index in political related activities. Compared to the
general online adult population, MySpace users are:
-- 139% more likely to have visited an online chat room with
public officials or political candidates in the last 30 days
-- 29% more likely to have looked up political/campaign
information online yesterday
-- 16% more likely to have read news - general/political - online
yesterday
MySpace Will Vote - The vast majority (86%) of MySpace users 18+,
or who will be 18 by Nov. 4, 2008, say they are 'Extremely Likely' or
'Likely' to vote in the 2008 presidential election.
MySpace Community Kicks Party Affiliations to the Curb - A
significantly higher proportion of the MySpace community identify
themselves as Independents in comparison to Americans overall:
-- 27% of MySpace users 18+, or who will be 18 by the 2008
general election, define their political affiliation as
Independent, compared to 8% of the general American population
-- 52% of MySpace users are Independent or Independent and
leaning to one party, compared to 41% from a November 2007
Gallup Poll
Grass Is Greener on the Democratic Side - Among the MySpace
community, party switching is higher among those who voted Republican
in 2004:
-- 25% who voted for Bush in 2004 plan to vote Democratic in 2008
-- 18% of those who voted for Kerry in 2004 plan to vote
Republican in 2008
"War on Terror" Ranks Top of Mind - Democratic and Republican
MySpace users are in sync regarding the importance of the economy and
terrorism:
-- 36% of Democratic and 38% of Republican MySpace users say the
"War on Terror" is the most important issue
-- 29% of Democratic and 28% of Republican MySpace users list the
economy as the most important issue to them in the upcoming
election
-- Immigration is a higher priority among MySpace Republicans
(22% vs. 8% for Democrats)
The ongoing MySpace Impact Presidential Poll is one component of
MySpace's commitment to online and offline political programming
continuing through the 2008 presidential elections, including the
MySpace Presidential Primary on January 1-2, 2008 empowering every
domestic user to cast their virtual vote for which man or woman should
be selected to run for the nation's highest office. All MySpace
Primary activities will take place on the Impact channel at
http://impact.myspace.com.
"This groundbreaking online poll provides important insight into
the political views and concerns of a powerful voting demographic -
young Americans," said Marc Morgenstern, Executive Director of Declare
Yourself, the national, non-partisan voter registration campaign for
young people. "MySpace will be a powerful force in the next election
and is already energizing young people to register to vote and to
engage on the issues that are most important to them."
Additionally, MySpace's Impact initiatives include a partnership
with MTV to produce a series of one-on-one Presidential Dialogues with
leading candidates speaking directly to the MySpace community and MTV
audiences. To date, events have taken place with Democratic candidates
John Edwards and Barack Obama, Republican candidate John McCain, and
have been broadcast on MTV and webcast live on MySpace.
The Impact channel (http://impact.myspace.com), MySpace's hub for
political and civic engagement, is designed to empower MySpace users
to make a difference in the world and to allow politicians,
non-profits, and social organizations to connect with MySpace's global
audience. The Impact Channel houses the official MySpace pages for all
of the major party presidential candidates, as well as tools to enable
voter registration, fundraising, and volunteering.
"Impact Presidential Poll" Methodology
The first MySpace Impact political poll was conducted online
between Nov. 28, 2007 and Dec. 4, 2007 via banner ads inviting a
sample of users to complete the survey.
-0-
*T
1 The average age of survey respondents was 25 years old
2 750 users 18 and older
3 126 users, who will turn 18 by the general presidential election in
2008, responded to the online survey
*T
Copies of the MySpace Impact Presidential Poll and corresponding
graphics are available by contacting Tracy Akselrud at (310) 969-2813
or takselrud@myspace.com.
About MySpace
MySpace, a unit of Fox Interactive Media Inc., is the premier
lifestyle portal for connecting with friends, discovering popular
culture, and making a positive impact on the world. By integrating web
profiles, blogs, instant messaging, e-mail, music streaming, music
videos, photo galleries, classified listings, events, groups, college
communities, and member forums, MySpace has created a connected
community. As the first ranked web domain in terms of page views(2),
MySpace is the most widely-used and highly regarded site of its kind
and is committed to providing the highest quality member experience.
MySpace will continue to innovate with new features that allow its
members to express their creativity and share their lives, both online
and off. MySpace's international network includes 20 localized
community sites in the United States, Canada, Latin America, Mexico,
Australia, Finland, Germany, Italy, Norway, Sweden, Switzerland, UK,
Denmark, France, Ireland, Netherlands, Spain, Austria, Japan and New
Zealand. Fox Interactive Media is a division of News Corp. (NYSE:NWS)
(NYSE:NWS.A) (ASX:NWS) (ASX:NWSLV).
(1) Source: Nielsen Online Plan Fall 2007
(2) Among the top 2000 domains comScore Media Metrix, November
2007. For more information on comScore Networks, please go to
http://www.comscore.com.
MySpace
Tracy Akselrud, 310-969-2813
takselrud@myspace.com
or
Edelman for MySpace
Casi Kneebone, 310-467-2671
casi.kneebone@edelman.com
Copyright Business Wire 2007
