With so many young people turning out at the polls, that pop-up on MySpace or the blog by the kid next door might have more influence on America’s political future than one might think.

It’s the Internet Age, and with it comes reams of information — some reliable, some not. And as the current wave of first-time voters shows up at the polls, that information is arguably more powerful than ever.

It started with MTV’s Rock the Vote, an outreach program designed to encourage young people to vote. Since then, Facebook, an online networking site, has co-sponsored a presidential debate. The video-sharing Web site YouTube revolutionized the format of the online presidential debate by allowing voters to ask questions via video.

Candidates have jumped on the bandwagon, too, starting Web sites and blogs and raising funds online. The text of nearly any speech can be found on the Web, as can political commentary of almost any sort.

Not surprisingly, young people, who have grown up online, are using the Internet as a tool, if not their primary source, for election information.

“Technology plays a huge role in our age-bracket voting,” said Damiano Marchetti, a senior at Napa High School. “It has changed the way our democratic process has worked. Candidates have blogs, Web sites. … They’re trying to reach out to the younger generation.” Marchetti, who said he gets about 75 percent of his information online, likes to visit sites dedicated to specific issues to find out where candidates stand.

New Tech High senior Anthony Kozlowski prefers to read the headlines on Yahoo. His classmate, Travis Gilliland, registered as a friend of Sen. Barack Obama, D-Ill., and Rudy Giuliani on their MySpace profiles.

Even television is becoming obsolete for students like New Tech senior Tessa Levin, who watches the YouTube presidential debates online.

“I loved the YouTube debates,” she said. “My parents hated them.”

“The Internet has revolutionized the way we get our information,” said New Tech senior Reid Weber. “There are infinite amounts of information at the click of a button.”

And it forces candidates to come to them, say students, because a tech-savvy candidate is more likely to get young people’s votes.

“Teens spend so much time on the Internet,” said Marchetti, “if you promote yourself on the Internet, you’re going to get their vote eventually.”

New Tech High Assistant Principal Tom Solberg said the Internet “has had the intended effect of getting information to the students.”

But while the access to information is undeniable, the question of how informed young voters are is up for debate.

Students at New Tech believe first-time voters today are more informed than they were 10 or 15 years ago. Weber said the Internet has made his generation “sharper” than his parents’. “We’re growing up with multitasking,” he said as he slammed away at an imaginary keyboard in front of him. “Our parents grew up on farms, staring at rocks.”

“Whatever they were doing,” said Weber, “there was not the same wealth of information available.”

But then, that wealth of information is “a blessing and a curse” for first-time voters, he said.

Young voters “have had to learn to filter what they’re reading,” said Levin, so they “don’t have to take it at face value.”

“That’s what’s so dangerous,” said Weber. Despite — even because of — that access to information, young voters may actually be less informed, he said.

“They have a lot more stuff coming at them and form opinions quicker,” said New Tech political studies teacher Julia Berger. “They feel more informed, but the quality of that information is questionable.”

“There’s the impression that the information they have is better,” said Berger. “I think that’s a huge mistake. … It’s only if they have the correct lens to look through.” That means learning how to judge the reliability of sources and making sure not to base opinions on “small snippets” of information, she said.

“The Internet is coming at us so quickly,” said Solberg. “Kids need a briefcase of tools to determine whether a site speaks to them.” In essence, he said, “kids are becoming responsible for their own education.”