Despite all political parties using the internet like never before, they are failing to reach young voters, a new poll says.

Eighty per cent of 18 to 25 year olds have a profile on Facebook and own a cell phone. But only nine per cent have been contacted by one of the parties by e-mail, text messaging, Facebook, MySpace or Twitter.

This shows the parties are using the internet badly, according to the Dominion Institute, which conducted the online poll.

In the U.S. campaign, the parties devoted lots of resources to new media.

Just look at Obama’s war room where several employees work full-time on the internet campaign.

Here, the parties may have one or two employees assigned to new media and it is seen as simply a supplement.

Thirty-five per cent of those polled say the internet is the best way to keep informed during this campaign. T.V. gets 30 per cent and newspapers 19.

The Dominion Institute polled 1,000 youths (online) between the ages of 18 and 25. They were surveyed between Sept. 10th and 15th. The poll is considered accurate to within 3.1 percentage points, 19 times out of 20.

— Emmanuel Marchand