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Major social networking sites, like Facebook, MySpace, and Eons (that focuses on the over 50 crowd), are bringing together the 2008 U.S. presidential candidates in virtual forums.
“The top candidates in the 2008 presidential race have created presences on Eons because they know that the boomer generation has always fought its political battles by mobilizing behind their political beliefs, and the ballot box is their weapon of choice,” said Jeff Taylor, founder and CEO of Eons. “This is the generation that cut its political teeth on the statesmanship of John F. Kennedy and that took to the streets to support the Civil Rights Act. As the 2008 campaign heats up, boomers are turning into Web activists, and www.eons.com is where they’re learning about the candidates and then joining ongoing discussions about the issues that mean most to the nation.”
Among the findings of the Eons Boomer Campaign Track of more than 4,500 Eons members:
Almost 80 percent of the 50-years and older respondents (with 60% being Baby Boomers aged 50 to 60) are already following the campaign closely or somewhat closely.
The major political parties were represented about equally, with 38 percent of respondents registering as Democrats, 36 percent as Republicans. Nineteen percent reported they were not affiliated with a political party and 8 percent were registered as members of other parties.
More than two-thirds of respondents (68 percent) said they had visited a candidate’s Web site, and 66 percent said they had received e-mail from a candidate. Eighteen percent reported that they had donated to a candidate online, and 4 percent had added a candidate as a “friend” on a social networking site.
Asked to predict the party of the next occupant of the White House, Eons members said the Democrat (64 percent) would defeat the Republican (32 percent).Asked, “If the election were held next week, who would most likely get your vote,” 46 percent said they would vote for the Democrat, while 36 said the Republican.
Source: The results of the Eons Boomer Campaign Track were compiled from more than 4,500 50-plus respondents as of July 13, 2007. The survey can be viewed at http://question.eons.com/survey/welcome/8.
“The boomers are more politically engaged online than their kids,” said Don McLagan, CEO of online market research firm Compete, Inc., an Eons partner. Compete compiled its data from the industry’s largest database of consumer behavior online. “People 45 and older spent, on average, 9 percent more time viewing the sites of Giuliani, McCain and Romney, though Romney’s performance heavily skewed the average, with older visitors spending 31 percent longer on his site than did younger visitors. Among Democrats, the margin was narrower but still noticeable; 45-plus Web visitors spent about 2 percent more time on the sites of Clinton, Edwards and Obama than their younger counterparts.”
Said Taylor, “Eons knows that 50-plus adults are obsessed with politics. More than 75 percent of citizens in that age group are registered to vote, and 9 out of 10 of those registered voters actually cast a ballot during the 2004 presidential election, according to U.S. Census Bureau data. This is the first presidential election in which the Web will play such a pivotal role in electing a president, whether it means enabling candidates to become part of people’s social networks, raising money or debating the issues."
