Hitwise senior vice president Tessa Court said the decline in consumer confidence had seen a consequent fall in traffic to categories such as automotive, travel, stocks and shares and property, while traffic to political sites has doubled.
Court said Australians were "questioning whether now is the right time to spend on big dollar items".
However, "a growing sense of community activism has led to the launch of a number of local peace sites including www.onevoiceforpeace.org and ,www.vicpeace.org", Court said.
"These ... sites... provide ordinary citizens with the opportunity to express their views and support the groundswell of public opinion in private," she added.
The group also says that "...34 percent of visitors to Australian political sites are aged between 18 to 24, with men outnumbering women".
But while traffic to anti-war sites is up, traffic to the federal government's National Security site has decreased from a Hitwise ranking of 83 down to 174 in its category since early February.
The trend towards online activism has had some interesting side-effects. Earlier this month ZDNet Australia reported on an ABC online poll which was subjected to frenzied anti-war voting due to a chain email circulating through the online community. By the time the poll was pulled offline, they had registered over 50,000 votes.
At the time Ian Vaile, the head of content with ABC New Media, said the frantic voting was an indication that Australian Internet users are using the Internet to express their views against the war.
"...there is a desire in the community to articulate their opinion on this issue, and they will use any avenue that they can, letters to the editor, blogs, talk-back radio, polls or forums - any way of having their voice heard," Vaile said.
