Politics and Elections Blog
Trends, tools and news from the Google Politics & Elections team
New study: Voters tuning in earlier, find Internet the most reliable for candidate info
Wednesday, December 5, 2012
Cross-Posted by
Karl Agne, Founding Partner GBA Strategies
and
Robert Blizzard, VP Public Opinion Strategies
[From time to time we invite guests to blog about initiatives of interest, and are very pleased to have Karl Agne of GBA Strategies and Robert Blizzard of Public Opinion Strategies join us here. – Ed.]
New post-election research conducted by GBA Strategies and Public Opinion Strategies in Colorado -- a critical swing state in 2012 and 2014 -- contains several key lessons for those seeking to understand not just what happened in 2012, but what this election means for 2014 and beyond. First, the traditional campaign timeline for communicating with voters - slowly building communications volume and television point levels to reach a crescendo in the final weeks of the campaign - is history. This research examined not just when voters tuned in to the campaign, but also when they tuned out. The lesson - voter engagement peaks in September and early October; by the final week of the campaign, more than 1-in-3 voters have stopped following congressional campaigns completely.
Of course, persuadable voters still break much later, forcing campaigns to weigh the relative importance of turnout messages geared toward base voters with persuasion targeted to a much smaller (but often decisive) universe of swing voters who engage in the campaign much later, make their voting decisions much later, and wait much longer to vote. And that leads to inevitable questions of how to reach these very different groups of voters in the most effective and efficient manner possible. Increasingly, campaigns are turning to online tools to answer those questions. This poll shows that voters now identify the Internet as the most reliable source of information for learning about the candidates in a congressional campaign and gathering the information they need to make their decision.
Learn more about this new study and
read the memo here
.
On Politics: Google Consumer Surveys Measure Up
Friday, November 16, 2012
As analysts continue sifting through the winners and losers of the 2012 campaign, one thing has become clear: online market research and polling has well and truly entered the mainstream.
When we launched
Google Consumer Surveys
back in April,
we pledged
to bring a fast, accurate, and affordable way to conduct market research. Over the course of the presidential race, we
looked at
voter preferences on issues, conventions, candidates, and even the outcomes of debates. Our service is powered by the voices of web users, like you, who answer anonymous polling questions.
So how’d you all do in your first election with us? Pretty spectacularly.
Nate Silver, of NYT’s FiveThiryEight blog - who many consider to be the ‘high priest’ of statistical polling data -
concluded
that Google Consumer Surveys was the #1 most accurate poll online and the #2 most accurate poll overall, surpassing many well-established and recognized traditional polls. Further,
the Pew Research Center
evaluated the tool in great detail said it will likely be an important addition to the research tool kit available to pollsters.
At the same time, your answers help support high quality websites that earn money from showing micro-surveys on their sites. Google Consumer Surveys run on top sites across the web. (For more on how the nuts and bolts of these surveys work
check out this video
). By answering questions, you’re helping to fund premium content - your favorite columnist, reporter, photographer, magazine or opinion-maker. These surveys support publishers such as Texas Tribune, Boone Newspapers, Digital First Media (Denver Post and other regional papers) and help to keep content online free.
But, political campaigns and publishers aren’t the only folks who are benefiting from Google Consumer Surveys. Academics, start-ups, non-profits and major consumer marketers are using the tool to improve their products, better understand their customers, and conduct detailed
research
.
With the holiday shopping season upon us, like a lot of you, we’ll be shifting some of our focus to helping understand consumer preferences around holiday gift buying. Taking what we learned from politics, we’ll work with marketers and partners to share trends and insights, and help our partners connect with their current and future customers.
If you can’t wait for our shopping-season results, why don’t you
go ahead and run a survey of your own
!
Posted by: Brett Slatkin on behalf of the Google Consumer Surveys Team
Internet is Key Channel to Reach Persuadable Voters Finds New Study from Google, GSG and POS
Wednesday, October 10, 2012
Cross-
Posted
by
Julie Hootkin VP, Global Strategy Group
and
Robert Blizzard VP, Public Opinion Strategies
[From time to time we invite guests to blog about initiatives of interest, and are very pleased to have Julie Hootkin of Global Strategy Group and Robert Blizzard of Public Opinion Strategies join us here. – Ed.]
As the 2012 campaign enters its final weeks, new research suggests that the Internet offers candidates a real opportunity to reach the most sought-after voters – those who have not yet made up their minds. According to a survey of 500 persuadable voters in Florida, Ohio, Nevada, Virginia and Wisconsin conducted between October 2 and October 7, 2012 by Global Strategy Group and Public Opinion Strategies, the Internet is an increasingly important resource when it comes to getting information about this year’s campaigns and elections.
Read the full memo
here
.
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