Campaigning Online, Locally

Abstract

How do candidates for municipal office use the Internet in their campaigns, and are there differences between candidates according to the character of the constituencies and the races? This is the first a country-wide study of website usage in low-visibility political campaigns for municipal offices. Data were collected during municipal elections campaigns that took place in Israel in three cycles between November 2007 and February 2009, in 143 different municipalities and involving almost 500 candidates across Israel. 1The paper explores the characteristics of municipal campaigning, including the scope of website usage, the features available in candidates' websites, variables predicting website usage, and the perceptions of candidates regarding websites' effectiveness. While Websites were used by half of the candidates, they tended to be static and include very few interactive features. The characteristics of the constituencies and the races were correlated with the scope of Website usage by contenders.