BlueOregon Reader Survey

blueoregon admin

From October 26 to November 6, we ran a readership survey at BlueOregon. These are the results. Thanks again to everyone who participated.

Highlights...

• Our demographics roughly mirror the population, though we tend to trend slightly more male (58%) than female (42%) and slightly more young (43% under 35, 54% 35-65, 3% over 65).
• Household incomes tend to be skewed high - with 29% earning $90,000 or more.
• 99% are registered to vote, and 84% say they vote in every single election "even the little weird ones".
• We lean blue - with 51% saying they're more-or-less liberal/progressive, 41% "middle-of-the-road", and 8% more-or-less conservative.
• We're very active - 84% have talked politics with someone they don't know.
• 44% of you visit BlueOregon just about every day.
• 49% of you have never commented on BlueOregon. (Jump on in! The water's warm!)

Sample size: 154 self-selected responses. It is, of course, hard to know what percentage of our readers that represents. (On the Internet, you can't really know how many readers you have. Anyone who claims otherwise is lying.) During that period, though, we averaged just over 2200 page views a day.

Reader Demographics

• Male or female? 58% male, 42% female.
• Age?
  • 43% under 35
  • 54% are 35-65
  • 3% over 65
    (Detail: 1% under 18, 10% are 19-24, 16% are 25-3l0, 16% are 31-35. 30% are 35-45, 16% are 45-55, 8% are 55-65, 2% are 65-75, 1% are over 75.)
• Household Income?
  • 19% under $30k
  • 51% are $30-90k
  • 29% are $90k and above
    (Detail: 4% are under $10k, 9% are $10-20k, 6% are $20-30k, 15% are $30-45k, 12% are $45-60k, 24% are $60-90k, 11% are $90-120k, 9% are $120-150k, 4% are $150-200k, 5% are over $200k)
• Do you live in Oregon?
  • 80% yes, for years.
  • 9% yes, recent arrival.
  • 9% no, but used to live in Oregon.
  • 2% don't live in Oregon - and half of those are planning on moving here soon.
• Education?
  • 19% have not yet graduated college
  • 31% have a college degree
  • 11% have some grad school
  • 38% have a graduate degree.
• Registered to vote? 99% of respondents said YES, zero said NO, and 1% said they're not eligible.
• How often do you vote?
  • 84% say they "vote in every single election, even the little weird ones."
  • 7% vote in the major primary and general elections.
  • 4% vote in November every two years.
  • 3% vote only in presidential general elections.
  • 3% reported voting for the first time this year.
• Describe your political ideology
  • Only 4% say "strongly liberal/progressive".
  • 47% say they're "moderate to liberal/progressive."
  • 41% say they're a "middle-of-the-road moderate."
  • 3% say they're "moderate to conservative"
  • 5% say they're "strongly conservative."
• Are you a partisan?
  • 7% I'm a true blue Democrat; power to the party.
  • 32% I mostly like the Democrats, but occasionally go astray.
  • 50% I could go either way, it all depends.
  • 7% I mostly like the Republicans, but occasionally go astray.
  • 2% I'm a grand old party Republican; power to the party.
  • 1% Down with the two-party system. Bring on third parties!
• Political activities
  • 84% have talked politics with someone they didn't know
  • 80% have contacted an elected official about their opinion
  • 77% have given money to a political campaign or organization
  • 73% have volunteered for a political campaign or organization
  • 64% have sent a letter or editorial to a newspaper
• Political jobs/service
  • 25% have served on a government committee or commission
  • 18% have worked full-time on a political campaign
  • 16% have worked full-time for an advocacy organization
  • 14% have worked as a reporter/editor
  • 13% have worked full-time as staff to an elected official
  • 12% have worked as a lobbyist
  • 8% have been a candidate for elected office
  • 6% have been elected to office
• Do you have your own blog or website? 25% say yes.

Using BlueOregon

What do you like least about BlueOregon?

- "I am never wrong" Lefties - All those damned right wingers spoilin' the party. ;-) Just kidding. Nothing really. - Anonymous posters - Diatribes, hysterical rantings...but they are very easy to skip. - Editorial content is all over the place, how about linking to stories by category? (Elections, Current Issues, National Politics, Local Politics, Oregon News, etc.) - Emphasis on Oregon - Generic web problem... it's just words on a screen... I need to get out and talk to real people instead. - Hyperpartisan Atrios- and Kos-esque blue-staters. Ugh. - I realize that everyone is entitled to their opinion, but there have been a couple of times where a commenter has been abusive (swearing, name calling) to the original poster or other commenters. I don't think that sort of behavior should be allowed. If someone doesn't like what someone else has posted, just give your own opinion. No one id going to take you seriously if the only way you can express yourself is by belittling others, plus it is just plain offensive. I'm not sure that people like that should be allowed to continue to post. I'm not saying that people with contrary opinions should not be allowed to post, but just people who are unable to respect others. I haven't seen it lately, so maybe this has already happened. - I was hopeful about the writing and though I appreciate it it can be a tad amateurish at time. The three sentence posts are frustrating too. - It doesn't happen very often, but every once in a while some contributors are a little too "passionate" about thier issues. There is no need to be rude when having an open exchange of ideas. - It's a little too Metro-is-all-that-matters, inside-baseball, but only occasionally. I consider myself an activist, but sometimes it's too deep even for me. BlueOregon could also stand to impose a comment-length limit; I won't name names, but some people need to break the habit of posting an entire article to the comments, and just excerpt the relevant bits. Other people need a refresher on Strunk and White, if only to avoid the 8-page term paper approach to posting. Having to wade through mega-comment blows. - Not a big deal, but I have no idea who some of these people are so I don't tend to read their stuff. - Not enough bad-ass wonky links. Come on, share the love. - Nothing I dislike significantly. - Off topic posts. - Republican trolls. - Sarcasm, negative commenters - Sniping in the comments. This is not an "around the water cooler" discussion among progressives - nothing can be said without fear of being ripped to shreds --- maybe this will change after the election? - Some of the comments are way off base. Which I'm sure will only get worse as the site grows in popularity. I hate the in fighting that can occur on web sites. - Some of the long winded comments that go nowhere and are really obtuse. - Sometimes I check and there's nothing new

- Super long comments and even posts - The "What's wrong with America today"/"I wish I was Russel Sadler/Andy Roony" posts. Hi, we're not the choir, we're all choir directors. I don't need hot air, I need fuel for the fire. Any blog can encourage shut-ins to write up their own ideas on the meaning of life. But that's BORING. Give me the goods, give me the gossip, give me the head start so that when the "news" hits the page, I already have my guns loaded. - The debates that go on in the comments. - The jerks that come on and call people names or accuse the entire site of being too liberal instead of just joining the discussion and presenting a coherent opinion of their own. - The layout....I hate the whole scrolling down topic after topic Pick up a tone of self-righteousness and being so "in the know" from some of the contributors - The occasional personal attacks on posters - The tendency for comments to get derailed by certain long-winded ideologically-minded posters. Can't someone come in and try to jump start the comments again in their wake? - You guys don't post often enough. - all the yammering. the conspiricy crap. the tendacy for people to say WAY TOO MUCH and the yakking about national issues - boring and annoying posts - can't tell who's who and if its mostly the same old names and people. - commenters who tend to say the same thing (talking point) over and over again without any real thought given to the matter. - feels scattered, hard to develop a "voice" with so many different contributors and topics--but i think you're getting there - for all your bloggers, sometimes you guys don't post enough to keep me occupied all day ;) - front page is too cluttered. Ditch the stuff on the right menu - it's not very useful anyway. Leave as much space on the front page for the real content - the posts. - ghjk - it'd be cool to get good debates going, as a lot of the ideas are pretty left - it's a little cluttered - it's dominated by a handful of contributors. Some of your contributors never post anything. - narrow minded "liberals" - not updated often enough - nothing is particularly offensive. - partisan crap - some progs are a little nasty to opposing views - those damned right wing commenters

By blueoregon admin Nov. 14, 2004

• 
  5:11 p.m.
  Nov 14, '04

  (Show?)

  I'm pleased to see that no one answered "that Alworth chump" to the question: "what's wrong with Blue Oregon?"

• 
  5:13 p.m.
  Nov 14, '04

  (Show?)

  That's what the "ghjk" is code for, isn't it?

• 
  5:23 p.m.
  Nov 14, '04

  (Show?)

  Noooo!

• 
  6:02 p.m.
  Nov 14, '04

  (Show?)

  I think it goes without saying, Jeff. ;-)

  This one surprised me:

  84% have talked politics with someone they didn't know

  Only 84%? I really thought everyone did this.

  I guess we know who they (we) are, though:

  84% say they "vote in every single election, even the little weird ones."

  We're the politically obsessive ones, apparently. lol.

  But I have a question for those of you who bemoaned the left-leaningness of BlueOregon... what the heck did you expect? lol. And considering that the far left is out-represented 4:5 by the far right (which I found odd), whatcha whining about? ;-) (OK, that was two questions. Sorry.)

• Aaron (unverified)

  6:38 p.m.
  Nov 14, '04

  (Show?)

  Stop picking on the trolls....don't mislabel or connect the ever so miss understood lanky non-bathing trolls to the evil Republicans....Trolls have feelings, well, not that many.

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