Explosion in Online Grassroots Advocacy.

Nearly 50 percent of all adult Americans contacted a Member of Congress in the last five years, often motivated by third-party organizations’ advocacy efforts to support, oppose or learn more about issues of interest, according to the report, Communicating with Congress: How the Internet Has Changed Citizen Engagement released by Congressional Management Foundation (CMF).

“We found that the Internet has contributed to millions more people learning about, and joining in, policy debates usually conducted in the past by those operating inside the Beltway,” said Beverly Bell, executive director of CMF. “These people are politically aware and politically active, and communicating with them should be a priority for every Member of Congress.”

The report found that 43 percent of Americans who contacted Congress used the Internet as their means of communication, more than twice the percentage that used postal mail or the telephone. Among those who sent a message to Congress, 74 percent indicated advocacy campaigns are good for democracy.

Americans who contacted Congress were also found to be more politically active overall. Grassroots activists were more than twice as likely to volunteer for or give money to a political campaign and four times more likely to participate in an advocacy campaign.

“As someone who has been creating online advocacy tools for a decade, I can only be gratified that we have solid research to demonstrate their value in a democracy,” said Bob Hansan, Founder and President for Capitol Advantage. “We’ve seen an extraordinary expansion of citizen involvement this election year—this report suggests that in 2009 that will translate into tens of millions of Americans contacting Congress.”

CMF commissioned the polling firm of Zogby International to conduct two nationwide surveys of over 10,000 adult Americans to learn about their interactions with Congress and their corresponding expectations and perceptions. Political scientists Dr. Tom Holyoke of the California State University, Fresno and Dino Christenson from Ohio State University assisted with methodology and data analysis. For more information about Congressional Management Foundation, visit www.cmfweb.org.

For 22 years, Capitol Advantage and its family of companies have provided innovative products and services for thousands of national and state organizations, corporations, media and educational institutions to influence the democratic process. Our award-winning ”Congress at Your Fingertips” directories have been trusted by government affairsleaders nationwide for obtaining valuable information on Congress. In addition, our variety of online solutions include Capwiz·XC, an online advocacy tool with e-mail marketing, as well as PACbuilder, a PAC management tool. Capitol Advantage also powers Congress.org, a free public-service Web site engaging citizens in democracy.

More than 1,800 association, corporation, and nonprofit websites currently use Capwiz·XC to power their online advocacy efforts, resulting in 17.7 million constituent messages sent to Congress in 2007.

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http://cts.vresp.com/c/?CapitolAdvantage/f4399edf97/df6a2ecd9f/fbc74115f7>