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E-Networks and Democracy, Vol. 9 - 2002, No. 2
New Voices in the Public Sphere: A Comparative Analysis of Interpersonal and Online Political Talk
Political conversation for many people is a taboo activity, particularly with acquaintances or strangers. Online, there are a wealth of political conversation spaces, designed for acquaintances and strangers to interact. The question is are there people talking politics online who do not do so face-to-face. Put another way, are the same people who talk politics online the same ones likely to do so face-to-face. In this essay, I present findings on people’s reported political conversation behaviour online and offline from secondary survey analysis of a research project studying the effects of political deliberation. The survey analysis suggests that there are people who talk politics online who do not do so in face-to-face situations. Half of the sample that reported talk online reported no acquaintances with whom they talked politics. Moreover, in logistic regression analysis, those who talk online are categorically different than those who do so face-to-face. Variables that positively predicted likelihood to talk with friends and family included gender (female), political interest, general political knowledge, and political talk with acquaintances. Age was a negative predictor of likelihood to talk with friends and family. Variables that positively predicted likelihood to talk with acquaintances included gender (female), political interest, and political talk with friends and family. Variables that positively predicted likelihood to talk online included gender (male), political interest, political talk radio listening, and Web use. Variables that negatively predicted online talk included internal political efficacy and general political knowledge. The Internet may provide a new context for political conversation for those who would not normally engage in face-to-face political conversations, thus bringing new voices into the public sphere.
