Obama vs. McCain: Online
Hitwise recently released a report listing the different search terms that lead users to each of the presumptive presidential candidates.
With regards to the top political issue search terms sending visits to each candidates’ Web sites, for Senator Barack Obama, the top terms for Q208 (in order) were: Abortion, Education, Environmental/Global Warming, Health Care, and Immigration. During Q108, the order was: Gay Marriage, Abortion, Gun Control, Education, and Immigration.
For McCain, the order for Q208 was: Health Care, Environmental/Global Warming, Oil Prices, Education, and Immigration. During Q108, the order was: Health Care, Immigration, Abortion, Environmental/Global Warming, and Economy.
The top political content search terms driving traffic to Obama’s site for Q208 were: Biography/Facts (24%), Issues/Views (15%), Name/Navigation (15%), Rumors (10%), Religion (7%). Biography/Facts (34%) was also the top content term during Q108.
For McCain, the top content search terms for Q208 were: Issues/Views (32%), Name/Navigation (29%), Campaign Info (17%), Biography/Facts (11%), and Family (5%). Issues/Views (35%) was also the top content terms during Q108.
In terms of U.S. market share of visits to the candidates’ Web sites, Obama’s www.barackobama.com (79.25%) heftily trounced McCain’s www.johnmccain.com (20.75%) in June. The margin was even bigger in May and April, reflecting a shift of new visitors to McCain’s site.
Nielsen Online confirms this overall observation of Obama outdoing McCain in the online battleground.
Sources:
http://hitwise.com/press-center/hitwiseHS2004/global-warming-education-immigration.php
http://www.adweek.com/aw/content_display/news/digital/e3i8052e552670924e9fa91a7554f42cee5
