Utilizing the Internet as a Campaign Tool: The Relationship Between Incumbency, Political Party Affiliation, Election Outcomes, and the Quality of Campaign Web sites in the United States

This research considers the growing use of the Internet by campaigns in the United States at the sub-presidential level and examines whether the Internet can be used as an effective tool. My research examines the candidate Web sites on several dimensions of quality. The Internet quality index reflects attention to both scholarly research regarding information technology and literature on political campaigns and elections. Using a sample of House, Senate, and gubernatorial Web sites, I observed the relative quality of campaign Web sites from the 2002 mid-term election in relation to incumbency and political party affiliation. I also examined electoral success in relation to the Internet quality of the campaign Web sites. The goal of this analysis is to predict the quality of candidate Web sites by incumbency and political party affiliation; and subsequently, to answer the question of whether candidate Web site quality has a relationship to electoral success.