As much as the Internet fascinates, the young people padding through Facebook and Twitter are not going there to figure out how to vote.

Under 30s don’t vote anywhere close to other age groups. Interestingly, according to new research from Indiana University, young people across the globe are the least likely group to vote.

If you want to know who is on the Internet looking for voter information and who is planning to vote, move up the dial to old folks territory.

The Hawaii AARP just completed a survey of its 147,000 members, 50 and older, on their voting habits.

Almost all of them, 98 percent, say they plan on voting.

The only state to study voter turnout by age this year is Oregon, which found out that the youth vote is almost nonexistent.

"Oregonians 61 and older essentially have six times the impact on our politics as those who are 18-40," says former Oregon Secretary of State Phil Keisling.

Hawaii’s older voters are figured to be just as powerful.

"Hawaii residents age 50 and older comprise the largest and most powerful voting population in the state," says Barbara Kim Stanton, AARP’s state director.

AARP calls its members "the most powerful voting population in the nation."

Here are some of the numbers the Hawaii AARP is brandishing:

» 41 percent of Hawaii’s 50-plus population are AARP members;

» 71 percent of Hawaii citizens 65 and older are registered to vote and in 2008;

» 72 percent voted.

There’s an obvious reason why any fiddling with Social Security or Medicare is such a politically paralyzing fear.

With Hawaii’s historically low voter turnout rates, the old folks become even more an important group.

Not surprisingly, older voters want to hear what the candidates are saying about the economy and about access to health care.

By island, AARP reports that the Big Island and Kauai ranked the economy and health care high, while Maui and Oahu residents put the economy on top.

Stanton says the figures from several AARP surveys show that Hawaii’s older voters split 37 percent Democrat, 33 percent Republican and 16 percent independent.

Asked how they characterize themselves, the local AARP members split into 33 percent conservative, 32 moderate and 21 percent liberal.

The survey should give politicians some pause before they chase the youth vote.

Gubernatorial candidate Mufi Hannemann devotes a lot of time on his website to promoting his economic revival plans, and his main Democratic opponent, Neil Abercrombie, highlights a "silver wave of opportunities for active older adults."

With the AARP vote such an important part of the Hawaii voter base, you have to wonder why there isn’t a more concentrated effort to corral all those senior voters.