Pew Internet Life released a fascinating study a few days back (PDF) that looked at voter contacts during the 2006 election.  Below is a table summarizing the key findings:

Two things jump out at me here:

(1) 56% of folks surveyed received recorded calls urging them to vote, usually from celebrities and high profile politicians.  That’s a big number.  I hate robocalls and can’t hang up fast enough.  But the calls are dirt cheap to make and clearly effective enough to justify the expense.  These things are definitely a case of campaigns using a shotgun instead of a rifle.

(2) People were more likely to have a campaign representative visit their home (16%) than to receive an email from a campaign (12%).  Basically all that means is that parties still have some work to do in developing email lists of voters.  If parties sent emails to 12% of the population, that pretty much means they have the email address of 12% of the population.

[Via CNet]