Political blogs: DK

This from a Harvard Institute of Politics survey of 1200 undergraduate students (doc):

53. One of the newer uses of the Internet in this campaign season has been the blog – the online diary that details the day-to-day life of a campaign and also allows people to communicate with the campaign and each other. Does the ability to communicate directly with a favored campaign make you much more likely, somewhat more likely, or no more likely to become involved with a campaign?

Much more likely: 10%
Somewhat more likely: 40%
No more likely: 49%
Don’t know: 1%

54. Have you ever read or participated in a presidential campaign blog?

Yes: 3%
No: 96%
Don’t know: 1%

This is an interesting response. The same students thought that political engagement was an effective way of solving issues facing the country (88%), seemed to shrug off the use of a blog by the candidates. Part of this may be that the majority of undergraduate students are pro-Bush republicans, and therefore may not have been exposed to Dean’s blog, or the blogs of some of the other democratic candidates. More likely, I am guessing, students simply do not value the opportunity to interact in this way with a campaign.

Unrelated, but interesting: 58% support the invasion of Iraq, but if the military draft were reinstated, 46% would avoid it. 60% think “Saddam Hussein was personally involved in the September 11 terrorist attacks.”