Super Tuesday: The Web Response
by Molly McCallFeb 6, 2008
Super Tuesday has come and gone. The candidates have pumped their fists in the air, dropped conciliatory comments, and vowed to carry on. Did the ring of rallying speeches drive searchers to the Web? We tallied the Buzz polls to find the day's biggest search spike for each of the White House contenders...
Hillary Clinton—The New York senator could be the first female nominee for president, but searchers were more interested in her position in the yearbook. Demand for "hillary clinton high school pictures" surged 232% to become Tuesday's fastest moving query for the former first lady.
Mike Huckabee—The Arkansas governor took several Southern states in the voting extravaganza, and boosted buzz on his campaign. Lookups for "huckabee for president" topped the list of queries for the one-time minister. Does the general-interest search mean voters still don't know him?
John McCain—Though the Republican stalwart emerged from the multi-state primary with the tinge of victory, searchers couldn't take their eyes off the smiling woman by his side. Demand for "john mccain's wife" jumped 230%, landing in the #1 spot for McCain queries.
Barack Obama—The upstart from Illinois continues to build steam and attract supporters, but he can't seem to dodge confusion about his religion. Tuesday's fastest moving Obama search came in the form of a question: "is obama muslim or christian." Answer: Christian. He attends the United Church of Christ in Chicago.
Ron Paul—The biggest search spike for the Texas Web phenom suggests a need to talk. Demand for "ron paul forums" hurdled all other queries to top the roster of Paul-related searches.
Mitt Romney—Like Huckabee, the Massachusetts governor saw a big jump in general searches for his name. In this case, politicos gave a 150% boost to "mitt romney wikipedia." Is this another case of searchers wondering who the heck this guy is?
Update: Thursday morning, Romney dropped his bid for the presidency. Was it the Wiki-factor?