Cyclists are liberals?! (Retry)

[Eden]

It does?

I can't imagine how that would even begin to be measured.

I think it may appear left leaning in some ways, because I think left leaning people are more likely to be hanging in open forums where all kinds of people may happen by. I think more conservative people may be less willing to tolerate jostling around with people who have fundamental ideas different from their own, and thus prefer more private communities. (This is my own personal opinion formed from my experiences of creating forums around a certain lifestyle choice, back when the internet was new.)

Karen

I know I've seen studies that back this up. Though at the moment I'm only finding evidence that points in that direction. The largest demographic in internet usage would be described as young, college educated, relatively well off, urban or suburbanite. They also are more likely to live in a "blue" state. High Internet penetration can be found along both the Atlantic and Pacific coasts, as well as in the Rocky Mountain States. Meanwhile, in the interior of the country, especially in the Midwest and the South, Internet use lags greatly behind the national average. I'll hazard that people who are in this group are probably more likely to self identify as liberal than conservative. (these statistics come from a Pew Research web site) That is of course not to say that people who do not fit this demographic never use the internet or that all people who do fit this demographic are also liberal- they just are not the majority. I'll see if I can find something more definitive.

Also I'm sure that this will change. People who use the internet today, I think, are still considered to be "early adopters". Once more people begin using the internet and it becomes as ubiquitous as television, the internet community will be much more likely to have the same demographic as the actual community. People will just gravitate to different sites as they gravitate to different tv programming.

[Tuckervill]

You're probably right. I just think the saturation rate is as deep as it's going to get...that we're past the "early adopters" stage. But then, I've been online since 1994. (Compuserve! I chatted with someone in Australia. woowoo!) Even my parents, in their 70s, have been online for 8+ years.

I sense more acceptance and embracing of the internet in that aforementioned community on the conservative side.

The people who are never going to be online are going to die off soon. The people growing up today have always been online. There will always be the ones who eschew technology, and those who have it and don't use it.

I recently got a Blackberry, which means I can get the email and internet virtually anywhere. I used to believe I didn't need this, but it has been very helpful on my current trip (I'm gone from home for a month--starting week 3 today). Even though I have my laptop, I don't have to hunt for a signal to look up directions. I can do it on the fly. This is where I think the big change in the way people use the internet is occurring. I'm by no means an early adopter of this technology!

You're probably right, though.
Karen