This Pew Internet & American Life Project report says “the number of Americans who got most of their information about the 2006 campaign on the internet doubled from the most recent mid-term election in 2002 and rivaled the number from the 2004 presidential election year”.Further,”some 25% of all Americans (or 37% of internet users) say they got information online about the 2006 elections and 10% of Americans (15% of internet users) say they exchanged emails about the candidates. Many people used the internet both ways - for news and for communication about politics. Altogether, 31% of all Americans (or 46% of internet users) say they were online during the campaign season gathering information and exchanging views via email. Throughout this report, we call this group campaign internet users. They represent more than 60 million people.
The growing importance of the internet in political life is tied at least in part to the spread of broadband connections in American homes. From November 2002 to November 2006,the share of adult Americans with high-speed connections at home grew from 17% to 45%. These ‘always on’ internet connections draw people to online news of any kind,political news included”.

Election 2006 Online