urban anger

With less than two weeks until Election Day, liberal Democrats are significantly more engaged and emotionally invested than conservative Republicans in the 2008 presidential election, according to a new poll by the Pew Research Center for the People & the Press.

Fifty-six percent of liberal Democratic voters said they would be “angry” if their candidate lost, compared with only 20 percent of conservative Republicans voters.

The study found that liberals are nearly three times more likely than conservatives to have attended a political event this year, 21 percent to 8 percent. Roughly one-third of liberals, 34 percent, said they have contributed money to the presidential candidates. Only 13 percent of conservatives said the same.

Pew also found that, by a double-digit margin, more liberals than conservatives said they would be “worried” or “disappointed” if their candidate lost.

The study revealed a notable gap between liberals and conservatives when it comes to using the Internet for political information. Pew found 43 percent of liberals say they read blogs, compared with 22 percent of conservatives. In addition, about six in 10 liberal respondents said they have viewed “some form of campaign video” (such as a debate or commercial) online, compared to about a third of conservatives.