Searching For Minnesota US Senate Candidates

Last week I took a look at the .

Today, let’s take a look at Minnesota’s US Senate race featuring incumbent Republican Senator , Democratic challengers and , and Independence Party candidates and .

A reveals, not surprisingly, that Al Franken is by far the most popular search phrase during the past 90 days.

Minnesota US Senate Candidates Search Volume - Past 90 Days - 08/12/08

The big spike in search for Al Franken information was a result of winning the DFL endorsement in June. Searches for "al franken" consistently outpace searches for "norm coleman", which is likely due to Franken’s celebrity.

Democrat Priscilla Lord Faris and Independents Dean Barkley and Jack Uldrich barely register at all, but Lord Faris gets a bump in July when she announces she’ll challenge Franken in the DFL primary, as does Barkley when he announces he’ll enter the race.

While more Minnesotans are searching for information on Al Franken compared to those searching for information on incumbent Norm Coleman, Franken does attract interest from out of state. Coleman, conversely, has no interest from out-of-state searchers.

Minnesota 2008 US Senate Candidates Regional Search Volume - Past 90 Days - 08/12/08

What these numbers portend is anyone’s guess. The wildcard here is Franken’s celebrity. What we cannot determine is if his lead in search volume indicates interest in his campaign or in him as a famous person.

4 Comments

  1. MikeCgrimes on August 13, 2008 at 6:39 am

    Uh how about people search Franken shocked that a US Senate candidate refuses to pay taxes.



  2. MikeCgrimes on August 12, 2008 at 11:39 pm

    Uh how about people search Franken shocked that a US Senate candidate refuses to pay taxes.



  3. David on August 14, 2008 at 2:08 am

    Hi, Mike:

    Searches for Franken’s tax issues began rising in March and reached a peak at the beginning of May, then fell precipitously, leveled off in June, and fell again in July: http://www.google.com/insights/search/#cat=&q;=franken%20taxes&geo;=&date;=3%2F2008%206m&clp;=&cmpt;=date



  4. David on August 13, 2008 at 7:08 pm

    Hi, Mike:

    Searches for Franken’s tax issues began rising in March and reached a peak at the beginning of May, then fell precipitously, leveled off in June, and fell again in July: http://www.google.com/insights/search/#cat=&q=franken%20taxes&geo=&date=3%2F2008%206m&clp=&cmpt=date