The Chronicle of Higher Education
The Wired Campus

July 8, 2008

'Education' and 'Abortion' Are Hot Search Terms at Political Web Sites

“Education” ranks among the top five issue-related search terms that have led Internet users to the campaign Web sites of John McCain and Barack Obama in the second quarter of 2008, according to Hitwise, a New York-based company.

Hitwise analyzed the top 200 search terms that sent traffic to each candidate’s Web site. Education ranked second, behind abortion, in top political-issue search terms that sent people to Senator Obama’s campaign Web site. Education ranked fourth—behind health care, environment/global warming, and oil prices—that sent visitors to Senator McCain’s campaign Web site. In the first quarter of this year, education ranked fourth on Obama’s site and wasn’t among the top five listed on McCain’s site.

Posted on Tuesday July 8, 2008 | Permalink |

Comments

  1. Of all of the issues confronting us in America these days, the likelihood that abortion is the #1 issue inquired against on Senator Obama’s website smacks either of ignorance or zealotry.

    — Robert    Jul 9, 08:11 AM    #

  2. I wasn’t expecting abortion to top the list for the first quarter on Obama’s campaign site. I’m very surprised, to say the least.

    — Dbush    Jul 9, 09:12 AM    #

  3. Perhaps the salience of “abortion” registers the return to reason of hitherto intransigent Hilary supporters: at least the self-identifying Democrats among them are cooling off in light of the stark difference between McCain and Obama over reproductive rights.

    — Anonymous    Jul 9, 01:32 PM    #

  4. Robert is putting on quite a display of ignorant zealotry himself. People want to know where the candidates stand on the issues that matter most to them, and abortion matters a lot to both sides. Senator Obama has changed his position on the subjecrt lately and people just want to know what he happens to be thinking today.

    — Steve C    Jul 9, 01:40 PM    #

  5. I agree – issues of life should be of importance.

    — Kyle David    Jul 9, 05:26 PM    #

Commenting is closed for this article.