ABSTRACT
This chapter extends the empirical evaluation of our theory out of the narrow focus on political knowledge or Google returns and into more practical aspects of direct democracy. It shows that Google Search can have deeper level impacts—by increasing voter confidence—when Google users take the time to use the engine. In some research, "voter confidence" often means confidence in the political system, or something like political efficacy. Vote confidence and discussions surrounding voters' confidence in their choices are implicit in much of the research on voter competence and sophistication. Political knowledge is generally considered a prerequisite for being confident in one's vote choice. A concept related to vote confidence is "voter confusion". Beyond vote confidence, "ease of understanding" and getting enjoyment from the voting process may be a useful way to conceptualize voter utility from research using the Internet. A pivotal attitude for voter participation more generally is political efficacy.
