The American public’s increasing interest in the presidential election helped the candidates increase their online FaceTime with voters by an average of 25% in December.

Ron Paul continued to lead all candidates while Mike Huckabee’s surge continued thanks, in part, to publicity surrounding his controversial Christmas message. Mitt Romney’s speech on his faith helped the former Massachusetts Governor double his FaceTime from November, the largest percentage gain for any candidate. Among Democrats there was evidence of an Oprah Winfrey-aided pre-Iowa surge for Barack Obama, whose FaceTime increased 79%, while rivals Hillary Clinton and John Edwards lagged.

The table below shows each candidate’s FaceTime in December, their share of their party’s FaceTime, and the percentage of all hours spent with a candidate that occurred on his or her official website; the latter being a bellwether of grass-roots support. Following the table are charts comparing monthly FaceTime share by candidate during the past year.

December Highlights:

• Obama’s success in rallying grassroots supporters started paying handsome dividends in December as he grabbed nearly half of his party’s FaceTime. What’s more, 40% of Obama’s FaceTime occurred on sites other than his official website. In fact, the amount of FaceTime Obama earned offsite rivaled Clinton’s total FaceTime which was up only 4% last month. Since announcing her candidacy last January, Clinton has failed to captivate supporters as evidenced by her inability to significantly grow her web presence. Her site traffic has trended at levels reached a year ago in contrast to rivals from both parties who over the past year have increasingly expanded their online footprints.




• Religion had a noticeable impact on the GOP side of the election in December. Mitt Romney’s long anticipated speech on “Faith in America,” in which he defended his Mormon faith, helped him attract 120% more visitors to his website and double his FaceTime. Rival Mike Huckabee set off a conspiracy firestorm that generated more free publicity for his cash-strapped campaign with his “What Really Matters” (a.k.a. floating cross) video. Thanks in part to the video, Huckabee grabbed 31% of all GOP FaceTime last month.




• Rudy Giuliani’s risky decision to skip the early contest states and wait until Super Duper Tuesday on February 5th to make his move, contributed to the former New York mayor ranking at the bottom of all of the top tier candidates in terms of FaceTime in December, down 19% from November. If Giuliani can’t muscle GOP FaceTime away from rivals in January, he could be severely handicapped by the time next month’s 24 state battle royale arrives.

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