4 in 5 U.S. adults go online, poll finds

ROCHESTER, N.Y., Nov. 7 (UPI) -- Nearly four in five U.S. adults, or 178 million people, access the Internet at home, in the office or at other locations, a Harris Poll found.

The 79 percent July-October figure compares with 77 percent in February-April 2006, 74 percent in February-April 2005, 66 percent in spring 2002, 64 percent in 2001 and 57 percent in spring 2000, poll producer Harris Interactive said.

When Harris first began tracking Internet use in 1995, 9 percent of adults reported they went online.

The amount of time people spend online also has risen, with the average number of hours a week at 11, up from 2006's nine hours and 2005's eight hours, Harris said.

While it is still true the online world is dominated by young, generally affluent people, 9 percent of those online are 65 or over, 39 percent did not attend at least some college and 13 percent have incomes of less than $25,000, Harris said.

Harris surveyed 2,062 U.S. adults age 18 and over by telephone in July and October. Figures for age, sex, race or ethnicity, education, region, number of adults in a household and other factors were weighted to bring the sample in line with the actual population.

Harris would not give a margin of sampling error because it said such a characterization is misleading.

"All sample surveys and polls, whether or not they use probability sampling, are subject to multiple sources of error, which are most often not possible to quantify or estimate," Harris said.