Onlinenutzung und Einstellungen zur Politik. Ergebnisse einer repräsentativen Panelstudie

Abstract

Since decades it is a main topic of political communication research if the use of mass media has an impact on people's attitudes towards politics. But the increasing use of online communication applications now raises the question if the use of the internet may also influence people's attitudes towards politics. From a theoretical point of view it can be argued that positive as well as negative effects are plausible outcomes. To answer the research question the data of a representative panel survey are analyzed. The findings of the study indicate that the use of the internet does not have any negative impact on people's attitudes towards politics. Quite the contrary: a significant positive impact on three attitude dimensions was found. The longitudinal analyses of the data reveal that there are no unidirectional processes of media effects.