Sunday, October 21, 2012
Googling About The Election
Check out this article about what people Google in reagards to the upcoming election. Researchers are looking at Google's search data and comparing it to polling data in the belief that people are more forthcoming with their Google searches. Do you think this article bears any truth? Or is it just funny to see that number of people who Googled 'McCain life expectancy' increased after Sarah Palin was announced to be his VP.
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From reading this article, it seems that people are not Google searching important matter about the elections but rather random/ silly things about candidates. What I would be most interesting in seeing are the Google results after the debates. During the debates we saw both candidates go back in forth correcting one another. I would really like to see if there were a lot of people search up stats or stories mentioned by the candidates as a cross reference. In an earlier blog post this week, we saw that Romney’s “binders of women” story was not all true. These are things Americans should be Google searching if trying to get a better understanding of who the candidates are and what they can do for America.
ReplyDeleteI agree that a lot of things seem silly or unrelated to the election itself. A lot of things are vulgar and searched by people who have made up their minds on who they are going to vote for if they are. But the internet today has so much to offer that it is hard to takes stats like these seriously because there is too much almost out there. A lot of searching could be about rumors of a article, blog or video someone has heard about. Searches to me do not mean anything and is more a curiosity aspect and does not have any indication for the most part of who will be voted for.
ReplyDeleteI think people tend to look to much into topics such as what voters are searching on Google. I feel that this does not show nearly as much about specific voters as people give it credit for. In my opinion, these searches do not show what type of people will be present on election day at the polls. Instead I think it shows the indecision of many of the potential voters. Many of these searches seem to inquire about reasons why not to vote for a specific candidate instead of looking for topics of why they are suitable for their political role.
ReplyDeleteThis information can be invaluable if used correctly. Although many of the searches do tend to be on the silly or politically incorrect side, they do give insight into what people are thinking. As any researcher will tell you, the end goal of any study is to get unbiased, candid data. This is exactly what google search data provides. Behind the anonymity of the google search box, people reveal some inner feelings. Whether it is serious or not is besides the point, the point is the thoughts are there. Polling genius can look at this data and get a feel for overall moods directed at certain candidates or issues. Google has become an intricate part of american society and it is effective for businesses. I see no reason not to think it can be just as effective politically as well.
ReplyDeleteInformation gained from data like such can or cannot be valuable, it depends on how it is viewed and used. Yes, a lot of the searches are silly and some even irrelevant, but the fact that people are spending time on doing these searches says something. Whether they are thinking about voting or not, they are interested in the candidates (based on these searches); they want to know what type of person might be the next leader. The results obtained from do give some information but they aren't always right or can tell the future, as many things can change.
ReplyDeleteFor me, the most interesting part of this article was the way in which the author used Google searches for vote and voting to predict voting behavior. I am intrigued by the other potential uses for Google's data, and like the idea of having a reliable, if unorthodox "control" case for social theses.
ReplyDeleteThis article was very interesting, and made me feel a bit frustrated. Instead of researching for important issues regarding the election, some of the searches were irrelevant to trying to find out the real issues about the election and the candidates. I was a bit more relieved to see that people were researching how to vote, and voting, this gives me some encouragement that people are going to vote and take a part in this election. What frightens me is if the other search topics are going to make or break their decision on who to choose. I'd like to see the search engine topics after the election takes place.
ReplyDeleteI didn't think the results of this study were suprising, but they will always be disappointing. It is a window into the unfortunate nature of our country's society at large. The way more people care about "Paul Ryan Shirtless", over budget concerns--reflect the idea that our elections are more like American Idol, than the intellectual-debates they should actually be. I've seen so much analysis of the body language, tone of voice, and visual cues that have been seen in the past debates--but very.little.on substance. In the same way that the lyrics themselves, aren't important on American Idol...it appears that Americans are much more focused on the performance of their candidates, over the actual substance of their rhetoric.
ReplyDeleteI found this article very interesting, and looking into google search results seems somewhat logical to me. There is going to be a lot of silly searches that may not have much relevance. Overall, I think this is a really out of the box way to find some statistics. Some solid predictions to voter turnouts might come from looking into google searches. As the article said, the majority of people who don't vote, tell polls that they will. Its likely that the majority of people who care enough to search for facts on google are people who care enough to vote. So I'm keeping an open mind that there might be some validity to using google searches as a tool to find data about the upcoming election.
ReplyDeleteI don't think googling random things about a candidate will change the mind of the voter. People won't cast their vote on the basis that Paul Ryan was shirtless or not, when I did a google search. If the study was more about the search of things related to the election then they might have a correlation.
ReplyDelete