Google Tracks Public Reaction to Final Presidential Debate
By Alex Gauthier on 10/24/2012 in Debate, Google, presidential election, searches, Social Media with 2 CommentsRead Time: 1 - 2 minutes
High-volume searches peaked several times during Monday’s debate between President Barack Obama and Governor Mitt Romney. The first spike in ‘Romney’ searches came when the Governor urged Obama to visit his campaign website to review his ‘balanced budget,’ that would be accomplished in eight to ten years. ‘Obama’ searches peaked when the President challenged Romney’s assertion that he had gone on an ‘apology tour’ when he came into office. Romney received the largest volume of searches when President Obama asserted,
“You were very clear that you would not provide government assistance to the U.S. auto companies, even if they went through bankruptcy…”
Aside from ‘Romney and Obama,’ the top four trending searches on Google during the debate were: horses and bayonets, Syria, Mali, and drones.
The related searches regarding President Obama included: apology tour, Bin Laden, 2008, and horses and bayonets. For Romney the top related searches were: auto bailout, what is on flag pin, budget plan, and what kind of car does Mitt drive.
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2 Comments
Lucas Eaves
10.24.2012
@lucaseaves
So many people must have googled mali just because they didnt know what it was or where it was.
Alex Gauthier
10.24.2012
@alexg
its a little disconcerting that the debates essentially turned into a viral-fest. though there wasnt much substance to begin with, what was there was lost to the short sound bites, big bird, binders of women, and horses and bayonets