The Meteoric Rise of Sarah Palin: Predicting Election Results with Google Trends

The meteoric rise of Alaska governor Sarah Palin as the Republican Vice Presidential nominee in the 2008 U.S. general election has caused a great deal of excitement amongst American voters. With this in mind, it has occurred to me that the recent Google Trend search statistics for the candidates' names might provide an interesting barometer to gauge the outcome of the election in November. So without further ado, here are my findings:



The above chart (clickable) shows that Governor Palin significantly outpaced any of the other candidates (Barack Obama, John McCain, and Joe Biden) in the number of Google searches for their respective names. The message is absolutely clear, Sarah Palin will win the presidential election for John McCain. Google may not be omniscient, but neither does it lie: Sarah Palin is not just the topic du jour; she is our next Vice President and is the most popular person to hit the political arena since Washington and Lincoln.