This recent post from Jeff Jarvis–about whether Obama or Clinton is mentioned more often in the media–got me wondering what Google Trends has to say about the matter. As Jarvis notes, the latest Gallup poll shows Hillary ahead, while Google News shows more articles about Obama. Blogpulse shows the candidates neck and neck. (None of these data points use info that can be compared directly.) Google Trends:
As you can see, Obama recently surpassed Clinton in both search and news reference volume. Of course, you should take Google Trends results with a grain of salt. (Google says as much on the site.) Plus, Google Trends doesn’t differentiate between “good press” and “bad press.”
What I’d like to see: Somebody do a Google Finance / Google Trends mashup, where each would-be candidates’ “stock” fluctuates based on good and bad news.