Americans turn to the Web for unfiltered campaign material

If you think voters are soley turning to the New York Times or the Washington Post for campaign updates, think again. Today's Web savvy voters want more than just catchy sound bites from their candidates and are digging deep around the Internet looking for unfiltered campaign material, according to a recent survey by the Pew Internet and American Life Project.

Of the 2,251 Americans surveyed, 39 percent said they used the Internet to access videos of candidates' debates, speeches, announcements, position papers, and speech transcripts during the presidential primary. Not surprising, a record-breaking 46 percent said they've used the Internet, email, and text messaging to keep up with the campaign and to share their views.

Back in January, the Pew Research Center for the People and the Press also found that less people were turning to traditional media for news about the presidential campaign and more folks were turning to the Web, particularly those under the age of 29. This may have been partly due to the political bias the American people feel exists in traditional news coverage.

Regardless of the massive mixture of news sources available online, the Pew report says most voters still worry that the Internet magnifies the most extreme viewpoints and is a source of misinformation for many voters. Candidates seem to think so too.

Barack Obama, one of the most popular candidates among young, wired voters, has become very aware of the echo chamber effect of the blogosphere and set up a rumor-control website called Fightthesmears.com to specifically address damaging rumors targeting his campaign. The site even has a "Push Back Now" emailing system that asks supporters to refute any anti-Obama rumors with the truth, of course.