Candidates’ fundraising numbers not all in, can site traffic show the leaders?
Written by Andrew Meagher (contact - e-mail) -- April 3rd, 2007 |
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Candidates in the 2008 presidential race have until April 15 2007 to file their first quarter campaign finance reports with the Federal Election Commission. All but one of the six major players has announced their funding totals as of April 2, and the results have opened some eyes:
Hillary Clinton’s $26 million 3-month total (plus $10 million from her Senate campaign fund) represents a formidable obstacle for any Democratic competitor. And Mitt Romney’s $23 million puts him well ahead of his fellow Republicans.
But while money rules campaigns at this stage of the game, elections are ultimately decided by people. What sort of interest is out there among the populous for each of the candidates? One way to measure that is to look at the number of visitors to each candidate’s primary web site.
If web traffic is any indication, public interest currently lies with the Democrats. Clinton and Obama are averaging over 70,000 unique people visits each week. Other than Rudy Giuliani’s sudden burst in the last week of March, the number of people visiting the sites for the top Republican candidates doesn’t even come close to that.
It’s obviously far too early to tell what this translates to in terms of the election. But it is certainly anecdotal evidence that Democrats have the early edge in energizing their base.
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April 3rd, 2007 at 6:04 pm
Very interesting. We’ll analyze this data over at 2008 Central at some point. Thanks for bringing it to our attention.
April 4th, 2007 at 11:27 am
Senator Clinton,
I am truly sorry to see how beholden you are to the distorted AIPAC political-line with regard to the Palestinian/Israeli impasse. If the Gates of Jerusalem are the key to peace in the future then you
are a terrorist. Ironically you do a great disservice to the viability of a future Israel. Read Jimmy Carter’s book and discover the writings of Henry Seligman. You do not deserve to be President and never will
be President if “truth” means so little to you. I do not wish to be unkind, and I already was aware of you hewing to the AIPAC-line, but when I saw your corrective to Senator Obama about the horrors that have been visited to the Palestinians, I was horrified.
Sorry.
Respectfully,
John Warren Gotsch
April 4th, 2007 at 4:24 pm
Despite democrats lead in generating voter and contribution support via the internet, many believe Republicans have used the internet more effectively. Long known for their data mining prowness, behind the scenes Rove and company are said to leverage web data to effectively identify influencers and areas in need a direct ’swing support’.
In many ways this makes sense. Democrats are known for their transparency. Republicans are not. Both parties have applied their basic principles to the meduim and have both benefited. Who specifically has the advantage is up for debate.
April 4th, 2007 at 4:33 pm
Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama can afford to hire excellent web specialists to work on their websites. I thinks we will see both candidates devote even more attention to the Internet.
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