Politics & Elections Blog

Who and what were Floridians searching for during last night's debate?

2012-01-27T07:38:00.000-08:00

Last night, the four remaining GOP candidates took the stage in Jacksonville, Florida for what was the last Presidential debate until February 22. With the Florida primary just days away and Mitt Romney and Newt Gingrich neck and neck in the polls, the candidates sparred on a diverse list of topics, ranging from Romney and Gingrich’s ties to Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae to whether the US should establish a colony on the moon.

We at Google Politics & Elections closely monitored Florida search trends to determine which candidates and issues experienced a rise in search interest. In the first graphic below, we noted which search terms surged during the debate.

The second graphic displays which candidates experienced the strongest increase in searches over the course of the event.

Posted by Samantha Smith, Google Politics & Elections Team

In Raleigh, the Mayor-Elect Turned to the Web for the Win

2012-01-26T08:07:00.000-08:00

(From time to time we feature creative or interesting uses of our tools and ad platforms from campaigns and issue advocacy groups. These mentions and examples should not be construed as an endorsement. - Ed.)

Back in October of 2011, voters in Raleigh, North Carolina turned out and elected Nancy McFarlane as Mayor of Raleigh with 34,424 votes -- and 63,683 views on YouTube. Yep. Almost 2 video views for every vote.

As recently as 2008, online ads were largely the province of Presidential campaigns, with the Obama campaign in particular heralded for its success. In 2010, we chronicled how even more campaigns caught on to the web. Now in 2011 local candidates like McFarlane are taking advantage of new formats and targeting options on search, display, and online video to persuade voters, win the “Zero Moment of Truth” and drive turnout efforts.

Taken just last week, our South Carolina poll with Public Opinion Strategies further cements the notion that voters - of all types - are tuning in to web videos in big numbers. The data shows that more than one out of every three primary voters had watched a video online from a campaign - thus the idea of watching a web video on one's lunch break is the new 'prime time news'. It is plain to see that video on the web is not something that campaigns, up and down the ballot, can afford to ignore.

The Raleigh race - because it took place in an off-year - was expected to have low voter turnout. Sagar Sane, the campaign manager for Nancy McFarlane for Mayor decided that an added emphasis on online ads would allow the campaign to target likely voters and core demographics that they knew would be receptive to their message.

The first tool that the campaign utilized was TrueView Video Ads - a pre-roll video ad format that only became available to candidates in 2010. The McFarlane campaign was able to successfully target relevant content and audiences on YouTube--only paying when Raleigh-area voters actually chose to watch the ads, and making the format more effective and efficient for the race than broadcast or cable television could have been for the campaign.

But the campaign didn't stop with video. Beyond YouTube, they began to target sites, audiences, and specific content themes across the internet with the Google Display Network - utilizing display ads like the one pictured here above. That meant that when voters in Raleigh were reading online about local politics or looking for their polling place, they likely came across a relevant McFarlane ad. For a race that took just 34K votes to win, the McFarlane campaign ran a cost-effective digital campaign that received 3.8 million impressions on Google’ Display Network ads alone.

Google Search ads complemented this strategy, allowing the campaign to talk to voters as they researched the race and looked for information in the Raleigh area. When McFarlane won endorsements first from the outgoing mayor and then from the Raleigh News & Observer, the campaign was able to move quickly, spreading the word by bidding on local news searchers and linking directly to the endorsements, highlighting this important third-party validation.

With races all across the country heating up for the 2012 cycle, campaigns at every level are getting savvier about their online strategy. Like Nancy McFarlane, they’re utilizing new digital tactics to win the ‘Zero Moment of Truth’--and win their elections.

Posted by: Andrew Roos, Google Politics & Elections Team

Who and what were State of the Union viewers searching for?

2012-01-25T13:30:00.000-08:00

Last night, President Obama delivered his annual State of the Union address in front of Congress. In approximately an hour and a half, the President touched on numerous issues, both domestic and foreign; this is also true for Indiana Governor Mitch Daniels, who delivered the Republican response to the State of the Union.

With such a buffet of issues and people name-checked during Obama’s speech, Google Politics & Elections took a look at what search terms experienced substantial increases during the event.

In the first graphic, we focused on issue-specific words, finding Iraq to have the sharpest spike in interest during the speech:

In the second graphic, we narrowed the field to the names of individuals that increased in nationwide searches. Arizona Rep. Gabrielle Giffords, who announced recently she would step down from her seat to focus on her recovery, trended only slightly behind Gov. Daniels.

Posted by: Samantha Smith, Google Politics & Elections Team

Your Interview with President Obama

2012-01-23T07:44:00.000-08:00

(Cross-posted from the Official YouTube Blog)

If you could hang out with President Obama, what would you ask him? Would your question be about jobs or unemployment? The threat of nuclear weapons? Immigration reform? Whatever your question is, submit it on YouTube for the opportunity to ask the President directly in a special interview over a Google+ Hangout from the White House.

On Monday, January 30, a few days after delivering his State of the Union address to the nation, President Obama will answer a selection of top-voted questions you’ve submitted in a live-streamed interview. Starting today through January 28, you can visit the White House YouTube channel to submit your video and text questions and vote on your favorites. Your YouTube questions will drive the interview, and several participants with top-voted questions will be selected to join the President in the Google+ Hangout to take part in the conversation live.

So take out your camera, check your hair and go to youtube.com/whitehouse to submit your question now. Need ideas? Visit youtube.com/whitehouse on Tuesday night to watch the President’s State of the Union address live. The address will be followed by the Republican response on Speaker Boehner’s YouTube channel.

Video questions are preferred (though we also accept text) and should be about 20 seconds long. In the video description, be sure to tell us a little bit about yourself, like where you’re from.

Your Interview with President Obama will be streamed live at 5:30 p.m. ET on January 30 on youtube.com/whitehouse. You have until midnight ET on January 28 to submit your question and make your voice heard on the issues that matter to you.

Posted by: Ramya Raghavan, YouTube News and Politics Manager, recently watched, “How to Buy a Car, Using Game Theory”

How did the GOP debates impact South Carolina Google searches?

2012-01-21T14:38:00.000-08:00

Much has been written about Newt Gingrich’s surge over the last week, including a Google Politics & Elections post showing a nearly 700% jump in South Carolina searches for the former Speaker.

In the graphic below, we tracked South Carolina searches for the four remaining candidates over that time period. As you can see, though Gingrich experienced the largest search surge, Santorum also saw a sharp uptick and even surpassed Ron Paul to take second place today. This is especially relevant given that exit polls indicate half of all South Carolina voters “made up their minds in the last few days.”

Posted by: Samantha Smith, Google Politics & Elections Team

What South Carolinians want to know about Romney and Gingrich

2012-01-21T07:41:00.000-08:00

Because negative stories about a political candidate are often just as newsworthy as positive ones, it’s often helpful to go beyond mere search volume when analyzing which candidate-related issues have gained traction.

Yesterday, we published a graphic showing a 698% surge in South Carolina search traffic for Newt Gingrich since Monday. For the graphics below, Google Politics & Elections analyzed which search queries South Carolinians typed most often into Google in relation to Gingrich and Mitt Romney.

As you can see, at least three of the top four searches associated with Gingrich have to do with the candidate’s current and former wives, which may be the result of a Nightline interview given to Gingrich’s ex-wife Marianne on Thursday. The fourth most-searched query, [newt scandal], may be a direct result of this interview as well.

The top four queries associated with Romney were much less issue-specific. They instead focus on more general biographic details and his campaigning in South Carolina:

Posted by: Eric Hysen, Google Politics & Elections Team

New Google-POS Poll: How the Internet is Changing Republican Voter Behavior in South Carolina

2012-01-20T13:41:00.000-08:00

The Internet has fundamentally transformed how voters receive information, and in this year’s Republican primary Google has helped change the way voters follow elections. From partnering with the Republican Party of Iowa to show real-time caucus results to using our Insights for Search tool to see how searches for candidates in key states track with news events, Google’s Politics & Elections team has helped connect voters to relevant information. To complement our online efforts, Google recently hired leading polling firm Public Opinion Strategies to go "offline" to find out how likely Republican primary voters in South Carolina are receiving information by conducting a telephone poll of 500 likely voters on January 17 and January 18.

The results show that even in South Carolina, which according to the U.S. Department of Commerce is sixth-to-last in the nation in overall use of the Internet, a surprisingly high number of likely Republican primary voters have gone online to follow the election.

Our findings in South Carolina reaffirm that campaigns which do not fully embrace the Internet as a means to engage voters -- for fundraising, persuasion, and turnout -- do so at their own peril.

Even in a state where a significant overall percentage of residents are not online, a substantial majority of likely voters in Saturday’s Republican primary have gone online to get their news about the election -- and have also used search engines to check the information they receiving. The habits of Republican voters in South Carolina show the incredible opportunity the Internet provides political campaigns to effectively reach targeted voters at the most important moment -- when those voters are actively seeking information about the campaign.

The findings include:

70% of likely Republican voters in South Carolina, about the same percentage of the population that has Internet access, have gone online to gather information about Saturday's election. This means that most Republicans who enter voting booths tomorrow will do so with an opinion that has been shaped by what they saw online.

62% of likely Republican voters in South Carolina who have searched online have used a search engine to check information they saw elsewhere, a number that holds up among supporters of all the candidates (and, surprisingly, even 43% of voters 65+ had used a search engine to check information they had learned about a candidate).

Just as consumers use the Internet to conduct research before purchasing a product, they’re researching information about candidates before casting their ballots. And it is clear that the political advertising landscape is adapting along with these shifts in voter behavior, as the poll indicates that nearly half of Republican primary voters recall seeing an ad for one of the presidential candidates while online. Voters' video consumption is also changing, with one-third of likely Republican primary voters (again, in the sixth-least wired state in the nation) watching candidate commercials or videos online. Other than television news or newspaper websites, where do they consume the video? Thirteen percent said the YouTube website, ahead of both candidate websites and social networking websites.

Interestingly, the most “tuned-in” primary voters, like those who watched all of Monday’s debate, say that they are more likely to have checked information using an online search. Of those likely to vote, more than 60% watched all or some of the debate on Monday -- and of them, more than 60% have checked information using an online search.

While the outcome in tomorrow’s election is uncertain, Google and Public Opinion Strategies’ findings, coupled with the trends we’re seeing across the political landscape, quantify just how fundamentally the Internet is impacting American politics.

Posted by: Rob Saliterman, Google Politics & Elections Team and Robert Blizzard, Vice President, Public Opinion Strategies

Gingrich gains momentum in South Carolina searches

2012-01-19T15:29:00.000-08:00

The Palmetto State primary is just two days away, and we’ve been watching South Carolina search traffic this week for the GOP candidates. We discovered Newt Gingrich moved from a solid fourth place on Monday to first place in South Carolina search volume today. The latest South Carolina polls show Gingrich catching up with Mitt Romney. In a few cases, Newt actually leads Romney.

Gingrich has seen a 690% increase in search traffic since Gingrich’s last debate performance on Monday. That exceeds the search growth of any other candidate campaigning in South Carolina.

Posted by: Samantha Smith, Google Politics & Elections Team

The Colbert Bump

2012-01-15T08:58:00.000-08:00

The “Colbert Bump,” as described by one wiki, is the “curious phenomenon whereby anyone who appears on The Colbert Report gets a huge boost in popularity.” We at Google Politics & Elections wondered if this rule applies even to Stephen Colbert, who announced Thursday night he would set up a presidential exploratory committee after a recent poll found him leading GOP candidate Jon Huntsman in South Carolina.

To test this, we looked at South Carolina Google search data to see if Colbert experienced any noticeable spike in searches for his name. The results were dramatic: Since Thursday, Colbert saw a 189% jump in searches in the state, while Paul, Santorum, Romney, and Gingrich all saw declines during the same period.

In total searches, Colbert trailed all four of these candidates on Thursday, but as of Friday, he was outperforming everyone but Paul and Romney in South Carolina.

Will this Colbert Bump be sustained? We’ll check in early next week to see how Colbert is performing against his real GOP counterparts.

Posted by: Samantha Smith, Google Politics & Elections Team

Candidate searches in South Carolina

2012-01-12T11:44:00.000-08:00

With South Carolina's January 21st primary less than 10 days away, all eyes are on the Palmetto state. Rick Santorum saw a rise in search interest after his near-tie in Iowa, but has his position changed after Mitt Romney's win in New Hampshire?

After pulling the latest search data, it appears traffic is tightening across candidates. After Iowa [santorum] had a small surge above all other major GOP candidates. However, the searches are now starting to close up and the ever-Internet-popular Ron Paul now maintains a narrow lead over [santorum] and [romney] in South Carolina searches. The trends also indicate a slight rise in search for [gingrich] in the state.

We will be keeping a close watch over these search trends as candidates continue to crisscross South Carolina, participate in debates, and increase advertising throughout the state. Check back for updated trends as we get closer to primary day in South Carolina.

Posted by: Samantha Smith, Google Politics & Elections Team

Huntsman receives post-debate bump in searches

2012-01-09T13:44:00.000-08:00

The remaining GOP presidential candidates participated in two debates over the weekend looking for a last-minute bump in the polls before the New Hampshire primary tomorrow. But how much did they really affect voters in New Hampshire and their awareness of the candidates?

The Google Politics & Elections team looked at Google’s internal search trends for New Hampshire to rank the candidates based on two metrics.

In the first, we compared search traffic for each of the candidates on Saturday to searches for their names on Monday during the same time period. Though there are fewer searches on weekends, we found a wide variation in the degree of search volume for each candidate. As you can see in the first graph below, Jon Huntsman saw the sharpest increase in search traffic at 50%. He was followed by Newt Gingrich (+21%), Mitt Romney (+18%), and Ron Paul (+8%). Rick Santorum was the only candidate who actually saw a decrease in search traffic (-35%).

In the second graphic, we ranked the candidates by search volume today in New Hampshire. You’ll notice that the rankings are very similar to the rankings for many of the polls conducted in the state.

Posted by: Samantha Smith, Google Politics & Elections Team

Using Google search trends to look ahead at New Hampshire

2012-01-06T13:01:00.000-08:00

In the wake of the closest Iowa caucuses in history, the race for the GOP presidential nomination turns to New Hampshire, which hosts this cycle’s first primary next Tuesday. How will the Iowa results will affect New Hampshire, if at all? To find out, we used Google’s Insights for Search to compare search queries for the top-polling candidates in New Hampshire. Ron Paul is atop the field and rising. Despite unparalleled search performance, Paul remains a distant second in the latest polls of likely voters in New Hampshire’s primary.

Though he only won the Iowa Caucuses by eight votes, Mitt Romney’s lead in New Hampshire polls looms large over the rest of the field. In Google searches by New Hampshirites, however, Romney is well behind Ron Paul, who also led searches in Iowa. Romney is also on the verge of being overtaken by Jon Huntsman in New Hampshire’s searches. Huntsman is third in searches and in some recent polls there.

Despite essentially tying Romney in Iowa, Rick Santorum still trails the pack in polls for New Hampshire (a state that contrasts sharply with Iowa’s religiosity.) But Santorum has seen a considerable spike in search traffic there, as well as in South Carolina, where the next primary takes place on Friday, January 20. And so far for this week, searches for Santorum are on par with the other frontrunners.

Posted by: Samantha Smith, Google Politics & Elections Team

The ‘Zero Moment of Truth’ primary

2012-01-05T14:00:00.000-08:00

(From time to time, we re-post Google-authored pieces on our blogs. This piece, bylined by Rob Saliterman of our Politics & Elections team was originally published in the Daily Caller on December 28, 2011. With the Iowa Caucuses barely in our rear mirror and the New Hampshire Primary fast approaching, we thought it was a perfect time to introduce this concept to our readers. -Ed.)

Normally, the months preceding the Iowa caucuses are a blur of rallies, phone banks, and television commercials as presidential candidates blitz the state to turn out voters on their behalf. This election cycle, the usual flurry of activity has only just begun — even as the race has seen unprecedented volatility, with six different candidates having led Iowa polls at some point. The final result on January 3 remains difficult to predict, but the presidential primary so far has made it apparent that traditional political campaigns are being transformed by forces that can be explained through a framework that is redefining consumer marketing campaigns: Google’s “Zero Moment of Truth” concept.

The Zero Moment of Truth builds on the long-held marketing idea that the “First Moment of Truth” occurs at the store when a shopper selects a product and the “Second Moment of Truth” occurs at home when the shopper experiences that product. The Zero Moment of Truth is the decision-point after a stimulus leads a consumer to seek more information but before he arrives at the store — or in politics, before a voter solidifies his choice.

The Zero Moment of Truth is whenever technology informs an impending decision, whether buying a car, going on a date, or supporting a political candidate. A study conducted by Google and market research firm Shoppers Sciences this spring found that the number of sources used by a person for the average purchase has doubled, from 5.2 to 10.4, and shoppers use each source almost twice as heavily as in the past. In politics, the Internet provides voters with vastly more resources to follow campaign developments and view candidate speeches, debates, interviews, and political analysis than ever before.

This election cycle, “primetime” is not watching live television at 8:00 p.m., but viewing YouTube videos at lunch. Campaigns and Elections reported that a survey by Public Opinion Strategies and SEA Polling found close to one-third of likely voters nationwide said they had not watched live TV in the past week and 45 percent said live TV isn’t their primary mode of consuming video. Traditional voter contact methods like direct mail and phone calls are stimuli that drive voters to conduct further research — and the Internet provides an infinite resource to validate or refute campaign messages. Candidates this year have surged in the polls, only to face that Zero Moment of Truth for voters and then see their standing fizzle.

As the Associated Press reported recently iin an article headlined “Presidential race in Iowa quieter than in the past,” voters “can go online and find information about the candidates without having to wait for the White House hopeful to show up in the town square.” Just as car-buyers enter auto dealerships knowing the exact model, dealer invoice price, and MSRP of the vehicle they wish to purchase, voters knock on doors to persuade their neighbors, visit coffee shops to influence friends, and ultimately enter voting booths to cast ballots knowing candidates inside out. The type of conversations that once happened over backyard fences now are not only informed by fresher and more detailed information, but are also digitally archived on social networking sites.

Each time a voter searches for political information online, campaigns have an opportunity for persuasion. A well-run business would never set up a toll-free hotline and let it ring. Similarly, a well-run campaign should never miss the opportunity to define itself and its opponents when potential supporters actively seek information — not just when those voters have their television on in the background or are throwing away junk mail. Zac Moffatt, the Romney campaign’s digital director, told TechPresident.com late last year, “Intent marketing is obviously going to be your highest-return-on investment because someone has gone into Google and typed in a word, and they have an intent to take an action.” In other words, the only real 3:00 a.m. moments in politics are when sleepless voters surf the Internet.

How are political campaigns winning the Zero Moment of Truth? By answering the questions voters are asking. They are defining themselves with ads alongside relevant Internet search results, asking supporters to share on social networking sites, and placing display ads next to relevant online news articles and blog posts. Campaigns that excel at winning the Zero Moment of Truth jump in and move quickly — optimizing, targeting, and measuring the return on their online advertising investment faster than with any other type of paid media.

The Associated Press noted that “part of the change [in campaigning in Iowa] has been driven by Romney’s approach to the state,” and Moffatt told TechPresident.com that the Romney campaign’s overall approach has meant devoting at least 10 percent of its paid media budget to online advertising. Over the next week, pay attention to the ads next to online news stories, before online videos, and alongside online search results — and you will see endless opportunities for persuasion. How many arguments at your holiday dinner table were settled by someone opening a search browser on their mobile phone? The sales funnel is becoming less linear — and, as this first-ever Zero Moment of Truth primary shows, so are political campaigns.

Posted by: Rob Saliterman, Google Politics & Elections Team

What are Iowans searching for before the caucuses?

2012-01-03T15:42:00.000-08:00

What have Iowans been searching for on Google as the clock runs down to their precinct caucuses? The only two candidates to top the list of political searches are over the past 24 hours are Ron Paul (#2) and Rick Santorum (#4). The remaining political top five: “Iowa caucus” (#1), “Iowa Caucus 2012” (#3), and “Iowa Caucus Locations” (#5).

We also wondered what people who were already interested in the three top-polling candidates -- Romney, Ron Paul and Rick Santorum -- were also searching for, so we used Google Insights to chart fast-rising search terms. As you can see, searches for [rick santorum iowa] have increased by 300% this week, with searches for [mitt romney] up (only?) 130%. Whether that differential has electoral significance, of course, we’ll have to wait a few more hours to learn.

Posted by: Samantha Smith, Google Politics & Elections Team

And today's (search term) winner is...

2012-01-03T09:19:00.000-08:00

What were our fellow citizens searching on in the last 24 hours before the Iowa caucuses?

Snow days and college football. [Rick Santorum], at #9, is just below Google Trends’ top 5, [school closings], [Rose Bowl], [Sugar Bowl], [Johnny Weir] and [OSU football]. The closest political rival to the former Pennsylvania senator is [Ron Paul] at #19. No other presidential candidates are in the top 20 searches.

To see which Google search trends rise as we head into the caucuses, be sure to check back at Google Trends top 20 searches.

Posted by: Samantha Smith, Google Politics & Elections Team

Keeping up with the 2012 election with Google.com/elections

2012-01-02T06:46:00.000-08:00

From the nineteenth century’s pamphlets to the twentieth century’s TV-ad revolution, our elections have always been shaped by how we communicate and consume information. There’s no question that the Internet is set to deliver more political information, opinion and news than any other medium throughout 2012 elections. The web offers candidate and issue info to voters; networking and fundraising platforms for campaigns; and research and productivity tools for journalists.

Today, just in time for the Iowa Caucuses, we’re excited to launch google.com/elections, an election hub where citizens can study, watch, discuss, learn about, participate in and perhaps even make an impact on the digital campaign trail as it blazes forward to Tuesday, November 6th, 2012.

The site allows voters, journalists and campaigns to quickly sort through election info, by popularity, race or issues. Users can also check out the Trends Dashboard to take the web’s real-time political pulse by comparing candidates’ YouTube video views, search traffic, and Google News mentions. Campaign staffers, advocates and even you can utilize our tools and features to reach, engage and inspire voters.

There are a lot of miles to cover and coffee to be consumed before Election Day. We hope you’ll make Google.com/elections one of your regular online stops along the way.

Posted by: Eric Hysen, Google Politics & Elections Team

What do Google search trends tell us about Iowa and New Hampshire?

2012-01-01T17:06:00.000-08:00

With the Iowa caucuses only a few days away, Ron Paul has maintained his slim lead among likely voters, with all polling firms but one finding Paul leading by single digits for the past two weeks.

Online, however, the Texas libertarian has little competition. Paul’s search term totals haven’t just vastly outperformed those for his fellow candidates in Iowa, New Hampshire and nationwide over the past months; [ron paul] is among the most popular News Search queries as well, exceeding even [christmas] over the month of December.

Back in Iowa, which hosts the nation’s first caucuses, only two News Search terms, [iowa] and [news], are more popular than [ron paul]. And nationwide, the only other 2012 presidential candidate making the list of top News Search terms is [obama], which boasts only half as many queries as [ron paul], which has more than doubled in nationwide volume over the past 30 days.

This trend is mirrored in New Hampshire and across the United States. Voters participate in the nation’s first primary on January 10 in New Hampshire, where News Search queries for [ron paul] exceed searches for all other terms besides [nh], [news], and [new hampshire]. Looking at News Searches across the U.S., only [news] beats [ron paul].

How much does search traffic really mean? Search popularity indicates interest, but not necessarily support or opposition; to get a sense of why people submit a given inquiry, it’s worth considering the most popular terms paired with that inquiry. In the case of [ron paul], Americans are most interested in what Paul is up to in Iowa, how he’s polling, and his debate performances -- all essentially neutral search queries. Some of the fastest-rising searches over the past 30 days, however, are [ron paul newsletter] and [ron paul racist]; this evidence of growing interest in the controversial newsletters distributed under Paul’s name in the 1980s and 90s doesn’t seem likely to prove a positive sign for the good doctor’s candidacy.

How about the other candidates? Iowa and New Hampshire are among the top states searching for Newt Gingrich, who also performs well in South Carolina, where new polls show him holding a double-digit lead.

Rick Perry, meanwhile, whom polls suggest is battling Gingrich for third place in Iowa, has been the second-most popular Republican in search queries in the past month in the Hawkeye state, leading everyone but Ron Paul. Nationally, however, negative Perry search terms are high and rising; his highest period of News Search traffic over the past month, for instance, coincided with his campaign’s release of a widely parodied ad, “Strong,” in which he makes a play for evangelical voters. The ad’s viral reception prompted heavy search traffic, driving [strong] and [rick perry strong] to the top of search terms for the Texas Govenor. But the ad’s 7 million YouTube views have resulted in 23,000 likes and 710,000 dislikes -- suggesting again that sheer search traffic doesn’t necessarily translate to positive momentum.

In the past few days, several new polls have emerged showing a sudden surge in support for Rick Santorum. Searches for his name in Iowa certainly mirror these results, with a steep spike during the week of December 25. This still, however, puts him nowhere close to Ron Paul’s massive lead in searches.

Posted by: Samantha Smith, Google Politics & Elections Team

The Top Political Videos of 2011

2011-12-21T06:25:00.000-08:00

(Cross-posted from YouTube's News and Politics Blog)

From candidate ads to pundit debates, speeches from the White House to impassioned pleas from the American heartland, this year’s most-viewed political videos show us that a message that resonates can come from anywhere -- and anyone.

Surpassing the President and various presidential hopefuls in views, the #1 video on our list comes from a young man in Iowa speaking candidly to his government. Zach Wahls’ 3 minute speech defending gay marriage has been viewed more than 18 million times.

Three candidates for 2012 made the most-viewed political videos list. Gov. Rick Perry's highly-covered "Strong" ad was uploaded just this month, but has already racked up 7 million views (another one of his ads, “Proven Leadership” is also on the list). Herman Cain, who recently suspended his bid for President, showed that quirky gets views. President Obama reached an audience of millions on YouTube as both commander in chief, and stand up comedian.

Here’s the full list of the most-viewed political videos from the YouTube News and Politics category:

1. Zach Wahls speaks about family
2. President Obama at the 2011 White House Correspondents’ Dinner
3. Strong [Rick Perry ad]
4. President Obama on death of Osama bin Laden
5. Brother, can you spare a trillion? Government gone wild!
6. Seth Meyers remarks at the 2011 White House Correspondents’ Dinner
7. Rick Perry - Proven Leadership
8. Jon Stewart Goes Head-to-Head Bill O'Reilly
9. Now is the time for action! [Herman Cain ad]
10. President Barack Obama's First Ad of 2012 [NRSC Ad]

In all, the videos on this list account for over 50 million views, demonstrating that there is significant interest in political video on YouTube before the primaries have even begun. For all the key moments in online political video during the coming election, visit YouTube.com/Politics. For more of YouTube’s most-viewed videos of 2011, visit YouTube.com/Rewind.

Digital Horserace: One month out, Gingrich leads Google searches in all four early states

2011-12-06T07:19:00.001-08:00

With the Iowa Caucuses less than one month away, we thought it was time to take another look at where the candidates are in terms of search queries across the four early primary states. With Herman Cain’s pivot from Republican frontrunner to campaign after-thought, Google’s Insights for Search tools is showing former Speaker Newt Gingrich stepping into the void and accelerating his momentum - just as formalized polling data indicates.

Here’s what we found:

Perry’s gaffe wasn’t the only outcome from November 9 debate. Gingrich also started to take off then.
Gingrich has recently taken the lead in searches; beginning in early November, the former Speaker has captured the attention of the country and has taken the search lead in the four early states.
Interest in Mitt Romney is on a strong upward trajectory since December 1, indicating that American searchers are narrowing their choices to Governor Romney and Speaker Gingrich.

The spark that has driven Newt to the apparent front of the pack was - surprisingly - the November 9 debate. That night was best known for the (now) famous Rick Perry agency gaffe, but looking at how Americans searched, it is clear that Newt Gingrich was really the breakout star. The morning after the debate (November 10), Politico’s Maggie Haberman was one of many journalists to point to the building Newtmentum, writing, “If Cain’s numbers crater, Gingrich is the likeliest to benefit.” Looking at the data, it appears that the debate was pivotal in the campaign.

While sentiment and interest from voters across the country matters in this campaign, however, the near-term direction of the GOP race (and length of the primary process) is coming down to four early states: Iowa, New Hampshire, South Carolina and Florida. Public polling is showing a mixed bag: In Iowa, Gingrich has gone out to a new lead over rival Mitt Romney. However in New Hampshire, Romney continues holding a strong lead, though it has diminished significantly in recent weeks to Gingrich’s benefit. The third and fourth primary/caucus states this year are South Carolina and Florida, where Gingrich holds double-digit leads.

Google users across the same four states show that their interest in the race - and specifically in Gingrich - is up significantly since early November. All four states show a lead in searches for Gingrich over rival Romney. The interest in Gingrich is unprecedented.

Gingrich out to search lead in Iowa recently.

In what is expected to be one of Romney’s strongest states, New Hampshire searchers are looking for info on Newt Gingrich in big numbers recently. Romney still holds the volume lead for 2011.

Mirroring polling data, Gingrich has big lead in terms of recent searches in Florida.

South Carolina searches show one of the largest current gaps between Romney and Gingrich.

When looking in isolation, across the country, searches for Governor Mitt Romney are on an upward trajectory indicating that searchers are narrowing their interest to Romney and Gingrich. Since December 1, searches are heading straight up. Connecting voters to information about issues and platforms is core to Google's effort around elections. It is clear that searchers are digging in as the elections get closer.

Will the search trends hold up? Will Newt Gingrich extend his search lead or will Mitt Romney close the gap? We’ll be watching along with most of the country starting in early January at the Iowa Caucuses.

Posted by: Jake Parrillo, Google Politics & Elections Team

Helping Journalists on Iowa Caucus Night

2011-11-09T07:26:00.000-08:00

Every day, voters across the globe turn to Google and YouTube first to research, understand, discuss, and share news and views about issues and candidates, but when an election day comes along, the impact and usage is always magnified.

One of the hallmark events of the US political landscape is the first-in-the-nation Iowa Caucuses. When Iowa voters head to their caucus locations to help determine the Republican nominee, the team here at Google will be working to help connect voters and interested onlookers to information from across the 99 counties of of Iowa. Google has consistently demonstrated our support for the news industry and our latest effort in Iowa reinforces our commitment to help journalists succeed online and off.

That’s why we’re happy to announce that we’re supporting, along with the Greater Des Moines Convention and Visitors Bureau, the Official Iowa Caucus Media Filing Center. From December 26, 2011 to January 4, 2012, the Iowa Events Center’s Polk County Convention Complex in Des Moines central space will be available for media as a home base.

Starting this morning, members of the media can now apply for access to the Media Filing Center for Caucus night. Live results will be reported on site within the Media Filing Center and there will certainly be a few Googley details to look forward to.

To reserve space and apply for credentials for access, visit www.CaucusDM.com. Don’t forget to book your flight and hotel, and we’ll see you in Des Moines.

Posted by: Jesse Friedman, Google Politics & Elections Team

What search trends tell us about Occupy Wall Street and the Tea Party

2011-10-27T08:05:00.000-07:00

When we launched our Political Trendspotters Contest last week, we heard from a number of users who wanted us to explore the trends around the Occupy Wall Street movement. After spending many days in the top 20 terms on Google Trends, we agreed that it would be useful to examine the dynamics of search queries in America related to OWS.

Across the American political spectrum, we have another grassroots movement that we can use for comparison purposes: the [Tea Party]. Based on search patterns from Google users, Americans' interest in these two large groups is clear.

Here’s what we found:

Searches for Occupy Wall Street started on Sept 16th & peaked one month later on October 15th
NY is tops in searches, right? Wrong. Top 3 states for most “Occupy” searches: Vermont, Oregon, New York
Search interest in OWS is higher than the Tea Party. Both currently and in looking at the birth of each
Searches for the Tea Party peak each April as Americans begin to file their taxes

The OWS movement saw its first spark of interest in search on September 16th. Two weeks later, interest across the United States spiked as Google users turned to the web to find out more about the group, peaking on October 15th. Recently, national search interest has receded, but Americans are still turning to the web to find out more information as the movement spreads out across the country — with the top 3 states being Vermont, Oregon, and New York.

Search interest for [Occupy Wall Street] jumped ahead of the [Tea Party] on September 24, and hasn’t looked back. In a historical context, when viewing the snapshot of their nascent birth, we can see the peak of [Occupy Wall Street] has slightly more interest in American than searches for the [Tea Party] did during the groups peak in 2009.

(One other interesting trend to call out from the chart below: search interest in the [Tea Party] peaks each year in early April — just as Americans are gathering their tax returns to file!)

But, what about media coverage? Despite big leads in polls and search traffic for Occupy Wall Street, it is almost in a dead heat with the Tea Party for the volume of news coverage. Using Advanced Search in Google News we found that between October 7 and last week, Occupy Wall Street only barely bests the Tea Party when we examine the number of news pieces covering each movement: 29,000 to 22,000.

We’ll be keeping an eye on the trends that are shaping the political landscape across the country. If you spot one, let us know. It might just be featured in our next post.

Posted by: Jake Parrillo, Google Politics & Elections Team

Calling all Google Political Trend Spotters

2011-10-10T06:51:00.000-07:00

As the campaign season heats up, one of the ways our Politics & Elections team has begun to participate in the conversation is by highlighting some of the more interesting trends from our search data around candidates, issues, and campaigns. One example of a trend we spotted might explain why GOP Candidate Herman Cain is rising in the polls, while Texas Governor Rick Perry is dropping: four of the top 10 cities with the most searches for [Herman Cain] are major cities right in Texas. According to Google Trends, in all of 2011, Cain is rising fast in Austin, Dallas, Houston, and San Antonio.

From an early look at the state of the GOP Presidential race in Iowa to looking at what users were searching for during our Fox News Debate last week, we’ve chronicled what voters are looking for on the web. Having access to useful political and issue information improves our democracy, and the team here at Google is always looking for more ways to help inform voters.

We’ll be visiting these type of trends over the next year, but we know that we can’t possibly spot them all. That’s why, we’re looking to you - the user - to help us find and discover interesting patterns and trends in search data.

Do you support a candidate in a race? Do you support an issue? Turn to our tools to show that you are part of a larger trend.

We’ll look to feature some of these user-submitted trends over the course of the next year right here on our blog.

Using our tools to spot trends is easy and fun. We encourage you to utilize our Insights for Search tool, Google Trends, the Google Ngram Viewer and even Google Correlate to discover and unearth interesting trends, patterns and connections. Once you find something interesting or newsworthy, drop it into the form below.

&lt;p&gt;&amp;amp;amp;amp;lt;p&amp;amp;amp;amp;gt;&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;lt;p&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;gt;&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;lt;p&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;gt;&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;lt;p&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;gt;&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;lt;p&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;gt;&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;lt;p&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;gt;&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;lt;p&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;gt;&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;lt;p&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;gt;&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;lt;p&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;gt;&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;lt;p&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;gt;&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;lt;p&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;gt;&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;lt;p&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;gt;&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;lt;p&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;gt;&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;lt;p&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;gt;&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;lt;p&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;gt;&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;lt;p&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;gt;&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;lt;p&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;a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mp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;lt;/p&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;gt;&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;lt;/p&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;gt;&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;lt;/p&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;gt;&amp;amp;amp;amp;lt;/p&amp;amp;amp;amp;gt;&lt;/p&gt;

Over the past decade, the web has consistently shown that it can help transform politics and elections from a passive process to an active, participatory one. Thousands of voters from all walks of life are using the web to stand up for a candidate or an issue and Google has begun to build tools to help voters find and share valuable information and create knowledge around issues.

But, we need your help to tell that story. We’ve demonstrated in the past that these trends often can make compelling cases on campaigns and election outcomes, but there’s more data that we can sift through ourselves.

Data is at the heart of much of what we do here at Google and we’re not the only ones who get excited about how data can be visualized in a compelling way. Gregory Hubacek from Good Magazine created this beautiful visualization of the data around our debate last month. This infographic and timeline show how the debate evolved over the course of the evening.

So, go get busy researching trends and insights via our tools and submit them today. We’ll feature as many of them as we can. In the meantime, stay tuned to the Politics & Elections Blog for trends and other data that can help frame up issues, races, and campaigns. November of 2012 will be here before you think!

Posted by: Jake Parrillo, Google Politics & Elections Team

Searching the Fox News/Google Debate

2011-09-23T08:18:00.000-07:00

Last night the nine leading Republican Presidential candidates spent two hours answering your questions in the Fox News / Google debate. Throughout the debate we polled viewers online and featured their responses live on national television. Today, we’ll drill deeper into viewers’ reactions by analyzing Google search trends throughout the debate.

Gary Johnson Arrives on the Stage
This debate was marked by a rare appearance on stage from former New Mexico Governor Gary Johnson, and the search trends show that viewers wanted to learn more about the newcomer. Gov. Johnson's introduction at 9:01 PM, and his four responses throughout the debate, all sent searches for his name through the roof. Searches for the low-polling “Gary Johnson” spiked well above those for presumed frontrunners Rick Perry and Mitt Romney, as well as all other candidates, as this graph shows.

However, Johnson’s most buzzworthy answer - a quip about President Obama’s inability to create jobs at 10:49PM - actually garnered the fewest searches of the night for the New Mexico Governor, a sign that by the end of the debate the audience knew him better. That said, one term did spike particularly high at that time: ‘Johnson’s neighbor’s dogs.’

"9-9-9? Is that like the Domino’s 5-5-5 deal?"
Godfather’s Pizza mogul Herman Cain repeatedly promoted his "9-9-9 Plan” for tax reform, and search trends show that Cain’s repetition prompted viewers to learn more. Every time Cain mentioned the plan - at 9:15, 10:39, and then Huntsman referred to it at 10:54 - there was a major spike in Google searches.

Read my book! No, read my book!
Gov. Rick Perry and former Gov. Mitt Romney sparred throughout the debate over the contents of their respective books. Our records show that many more viewers were interested in Romney's No Apology than Perry's Fed Up.

What would you cut?
About half way through the debate Megyn Kelly asked YouTube user Lee Doren’s question about government cuts: If you had to cut one department of the Federal government, what would you cut?

While Herman Cain said he would eliminate the EPA on TV, online viewers answered the same question on the YouTube.com/FoxNews channel, and they overwhelmingly favored eliminating the Department of Education.

Interestingly this data contradicts search data from the past twelve months: more Google users search for the Department of Education than any of the other departments listed.

The Fox News/Google Debate isn't over, though. Head over to YouTube.com/FoxNews now to watch individual clips of each question-and-answer exchange and vote on how you think each candidate fared under the pressure of your questions. Watch out for more trends and data from the debate coming soon, and stay tuned for our next scheduled debate with PBS on January 12th in Des Moines, Iowa.

Posted by Eric Hysen, Google Politics & Elections Team, and Will Houghteling, YouTube News & Politics Team.

Taking a peek at political trends ahead of our Florida debate

2011-09-21T11:51:00.000-07:00

With our Fox News GOP Presidential debate less than 48 hours away, we thought it would be useful to once again look at Google search trends to see which candidates users are searching for.

We last looked at search trends and the GOP presidential race in early August just ahead of the Iowa Straw Poll. From former candidates (Tim Pawlenty) to new candidates (Texas Governor Rick Perry), the dynamics of this race have changed dramatically in the past 4 weeks. This time around, we found:

1. Since joining the field in August, Rick Perry has jumped out to be the most searched front-running candidate nationally.
2. Congresswoman Michele Bachmann is still very much in the search race - contrary to media reports, our data shows this may not a two-person contest between Rick Perry and Mitt Romney!
3. Past debates generated interest among Google users on hot-button issues like HPV and Social Security.
4. Which state searches most for Ron Paul? Montana. (I didn’t predict that either!).
5. Search queries mirrored the results in the NY-9 Special Election recently.

Rick Perry takes the lead
[Rick Perry] has taken the lead in searches on Google. As more and more Americans hear, read, and talk about him, they’re looking to the web to discover more about the issues, his positions, and his background. Since joining the race, he’s held the lead among the front-running candidates in terms of overall search numbers.

Bachmann hanging tough
Back in early August, we learned that Michele Bachmann was the most searched candidate both in Iowa and across the country. Heading into the Iowa Straw Poll, we showed her with a commanding lead in search volume and when all the votes were tallied, she won. A peek at our search trends shows that, despite some recent claims, the GOP race is not a two-person race. Rather, it might still be a three-person race. Although Bachmann has dropped behind searches for [Rick Perry] across the country, she is still more searched than [Mitt Romney].

Debates Drives Interest in Issues
Tomorrow at our debate with Fox News, we’ll be looking to user-submitted questions and search data to help frame the debate and prompts given to the candidates. The issues that Americans care most about will take center stage. In a blog post yesterday, we showed that the top-ranking categories are Government Spending & Debt and Jobs & Economy. These issues will dominate the evening. However, if past debates are any measure, there could be a breakout issue that isn’t on anyone’s radar ahead of the program. Resulting from recent debates in Florida and New Hampshire, two hot-button issues emerged and voters turned to the web to discover more on the topics. With the perceived-frontrunner Governor Perry being pressed on his positions, his opponents shed light on his stances. As a result, in the days after the debates, searches for [Social Security Ponzi Scheme] and searches [HPV Rick Perry] and [HPV] vaccines - saw major increases as voters turned to the web to discover more and get to the truth of the matters.

Montana is Ron Paul country
Some of you may be wondering where Congressman Ron Paul is in all of this search activity. Having accurately predicted his second place finish in the Iowa Straw Poll - based on search trends - we’ve noticed that over the summer, the state with the highest interest in Ron Paul is Montana. Surprised me, too! Other top states include early states like Iowa, New Hampshire, and Florida, so perhaps this data bodes well for some key primaries.

NY-9 Results
Finally, we thought it would be useful to walk through some of the ways that our search data has served as a good proxy for offline behavior - and in this case - elections. We’ve already showed you above how search data in Iowa showed a Bachmann - Paul finish in the Iowa Straw Poll in August, but more recently we saw parallels in search data and election results in the special election for 9th Congressional District which pitted Republican [Bob Turner] against Democrat [David Weprin]. The search trends show Turner pulling away to a lead in the days leading up to election day. He went on to win.

Like most of you, all of us on the Google Politics and Elections team will continue to be keeping a close eye on the race and tomorrow night’s debate promises to be a great moment in the campaign. Stay tuned here for more search trends as the race heats up.

Posted by: Jake Parrillo, Politics and Elections Project Communications Team

A global discussion on open government

2011-09-20T07:14:00.000-07:00

Open government is an important, timely topic -- rarely go through a day without interacting with public data or government services, whether it’s checking the weather or taking public transit. Today, we’re joining 46 governments from all corners of the world to launch the Open Government Partnership and establish openness as an essential pillar of 21st century governance.

You can watch a live stream of today’s sessions on Google’s YouTube channel.

As part of today’s conversation, we’ll be talking about three elements of openness. The first is the power of people. We fundamentally believe in the capacity of people to innovate and create change, and the people around the world leading open government efforts are shining examples of how reform can happen.

The second is the power of trust. In our global economy, trust is an invaluable currency -- consider it a killer app in the digital age. Trust is critical to the relationship between the institution and the individual. And the establishment of trust starts with transparency. The more open governments are with their citizens, entrepreneurs and partners -- the better opportunities they create, and the more successful societies they build.

The third is the power of open systems and technology. We fundamentally believe that open systems win, as our colleague Jonathan Rosenberg has talked about before. Open systems lead to more innovation, resources, and freedoms for citizens -- and a vibrant, competitive ecosystem to create jobs and grow our economies.

Open systems - which include a myriad of policies and practices along with open standards, open source technology and open information - have already shown the potential to spawn industries and bring increased creativity, better commerce and more effective decision-making across our respective sectors and communities. They establish meritocracies that harness the intellect of the people and spur sectors to compete, innovate, and win based on the real value of their ideas, products and services.

We believe that open systems are the way for us to have the broadest impact for the most people, in their power to deliver information, and in the power of information to do good -- to inspire enthusiastic innovators who will seize on opportunities and create inventions that will benefit people in ways we can’t yet fathom.

We applaud the efforts of all people, countries and organizations working on transparency -- and we hope today’s launch reaffirms the power of openness.

Posted by Ginny Hunt, Google's Public Sector Program Manager