Match.com Promotes Voter Registration

(onlinedatingmagazine.com - May 29, 2004) Recognizing that almost 39 million American singles did not vote in the 2000 presidential election*, Match.com, a leading online dating service, is launching a voter awareness and registration drive designed to mobilize the nation's singles, both men and women of all political affiliations.

Match.com's voter awareness program, called "Every Single Vote Counts," will consist of online and offline communications programs providing singles with information on why they should register to vote and giving them resources to get signed-up in their local communities. Match.com will also be conducting research on how singles perceive the issues and the Presidential candidates themselves. This data will be released throughout the course of the campaign.

"We look forward to getting more singles involved in the political process through our registration drive and hope that we give them a louder voice in framing the political debate this year on election issues," said Trish McDermott, Vice President of Romance at Match.com. "With more than 12 million members Match.com has an active group of socially and, potentially, politically engaged citizens who can help us understand the political mood of America's almost 90 million single adults."

Registering to vote may benefit singles' romantic lives, as a May 2004 Match.com study surveying more than 1,600 adults in the U.S. revealed that 91% of respondents believe they are more likely to fall in love with a registered voter than a non-registered voter.

Coincidentally, according to the U.S. Census Bureau, only 56 percent of never-married Americans registered to vote in 2000, compared to 76 percent of their married counterparts.

In a poll which ran on the Match.com site during the week of May 10, singles were asked: Bush or Kerry -- Who'll be best for single Americans? 46% of the more than 4,000 respondents picked Bush, while 54% picked Kerry.

Match.com will be posting banners on its Web site giving members information on how to register to vote. E-mail messages will also be sent to Match.com members encouraging them to get involved with the campaign. McDermott will devote several of her upcoming "Ask Trish" relationship advice columns to the importance of voting.

Offline, Match is planning to provide voter registration information at upcoming MatchLive (www.matchlive.com) events for singles around the country and will host debate watching parties for singles after the Democratic and Republican National Conventions this summer.

"America's singles population represents a massive, yet rarely segmented, voting block," said McDermott. "We think the two major political parties will benefit from hearing what's on the minds of the single's constituency this year."

While popular opinion holds that politics is divisive in a relationship, Match.com has found that a passion for politics can be unifying. In the May 2004 study Match.com found that Republicans and Democrats are generally looking for the same qualities in a mate: a moderately successful, balanced and stable person with a sense of humor.

"We tend to think of Democrats and Republicans as different types of people from different backgrounds voting differently on key issues, but when it comes to dating and love, we may be more alike than we are different," said McDermott.