News out of Nielson Wire this week sheds light on the demographics of campaign website page views. Interestingly and perhaps prophetically, the largest viewership among the youngest Americans is not possessed by Barack Obama, but rather by the lost cause of Ron Paul. President Obama’s key constituency online appears to be among the +50 set.
This may perhaps simply be because the Obama election machine has not yet fully engaged: there has never been a question that Ron Paul appeals to younger Conservatives of the Libertarian stripe. It may also indicate that the Democratic Party’s aging hippie faithful are much more enthusiastic about the President’s upcoming race than their grand kids are. But this is easily the most surprising statistic indicated by the poll.
Rick Santorum and Barack Obama both hold significant leads over other candidates – erm, their websites, I mean – among women visitors, being the only two contenders in the 2012 race to rank female viewer majorities. Newt shows off his age in his page views, having a majority of visitors aged 50-64. Makes you wonder what, precisely, these visitors remember about his House Leadership that so enamours them to his cause.
And buried way down there at the end, Nielson also reports that the largest news website viewership spike since October belongs to none other than NPR.
