Surprisingly, it appears about the same number of Americans regularly obtain information from the Internet and talk radio. The best data on this come from the Pew Research Center for the People & the Press, an independent polling organization. Its latest surveys show that 17% of Americans listen regularly to talk radio, while 15% go online every day for news.
That large talk-radio audience has proved an enormous political asset to conservatives. Pew found that almost half of regular talk-radio listeners consider themselves conservatives, compared to just 18% who call themselves liberals.
But those who regularly seek news on the Internet divide more evenly between moderates (39%), conservatives (35%) and liberals (23%). That balance reflects a broader realignment in political attitudes: Voters with more education have been trending Democratic (largely around social issues) for years, and a much higher percentage of regular Internet users than talk-radio fans have college degrees.
Those contrasting audiences help explain why Democrats have made more inroads on the Internet than on talk radio. Dean's success was a milestone.
With just six staffers, MoveOn has demonstrated that through the Internet it can mobilize at least as much grass-roots activism as the talkers on the right.
The success of MoveOn and Dean is likely to accelerate the right's efforts to utilize the Internet as well.
Of course, we've encountered Net triumphalism once before, during the Bubble. But MoveOn and Dean are generating cash, not just clicks, so the good feelings aren't just "irrational exuberance." However, as many readers pointed out Saturday, reaching out beyond the web will be key to any electoral success.