Poll: Who Uses The Internet?

Despite increased Internet access over the past year, adult Internet users remain a relatively elite group made up predominantly of the youngest, most-educated and wealthiest segments of American society.

Currently, 41 percent of American adults report personally having Internet access at home, compared to 30 percent who had home access in June of 1998.

PERSONALLY ACCESS INTERNET AT HOME

Overall, 50 percent of adults nationwide report having access to the Internet somewhere, either at home or someplace else, such as work or school. Age, income and education are some of the largest determinants of overall Internet access.

Sixty-six percent of adults under the age of 30 report that they have Internet access either at home, work or school, compared to only 13 percent of those over the age of 65.

Those at the highest end of the income ladder are substantially more likely to be online: 75 percent of those earning over $75,000 a year are connected, while only 24 percent of those who make under $15,000 a year are.

Only 13 percent of those with less than a high school degree have Internet access versus over three-fourths of those with a post-graduate education, and 71 percent of those with a college degree.

INTERNET ACCESS AT HOME, WORK, OR SCHOOL

Access to the Internet is also more common among men, and among whites. Fifty-three percent of men have access to the Internet, compared to 47 percnet of women. Fifty-one percent of whites report having Internet access, while only 37 percent of African-Americans do.

POLITICAL VIEWS

Republicans are more likely to have Internet access than are either Democrats or independents, making the overall Internet population more heavily Republican. Fifty-seven percent of Republicans have Internet access either at home, work or school, compared to 47 percent of Democrats and 48 percent of independents.

At the same time, however, Internet users are more likely to hold moderate or liberal views than are non-Internet users. Among Republicans, only 37 percent of those with Internet access are conservative, in contrast to 59 percent of Republicans without Internet access. Seventeen percent of Internet Republicans call themselves liberal and 45 percent call themselves moderates compared to only 8 percent and 28 percent respectively among non-Internet Republicans.

INTERNET ACCESS, PARTISANSHIP, AND IDEOLOGY

Because these partisan and ideological differences largely cancel each other out, Internet users' overall views on a variety of issues may not appear to differ substantially from the views of non-Internet users, though there are many internal differences.

ONLINE DIVERSITY

While home Internet ccess has increased by 11 percentage points over the last year (since June of 1998), the on-line population has not gotten more diverse. For example, in June of 1998, 28 percent of adults accessing the Internet from home were under the age of 30 - currently 27 percent are.

There is no indication from these data that the Internet population will become more diverse anytime soon. Up to now, while Internet access has increased overall, it has increased disproportionately among those already most likely to have access. Among all adults who have gained Internet access in the past year, 26 percent are under age 30, but only 8 percent are 65 years of age or older.

Interestingly, even among those who do have Internet access, access may not be complete. Nineteen percent of adults who have access to the Internet at home, work or school report that they have no e-mail address through which they can send or receive electronic mail.