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Hitwise Intelligence - Alan Long - Asia Pacific

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Turnbull vs. Nelson – The answer was in the data!

September 16, 2008

As our head of Global Research, Bill Tancer, suggested some weeks ago, search volume is the best way to measure curiosity about political figures.

Just yesterday we were discussing the Liberal Leadership and the impact of Peter Costello, and wondering what the search volumes would indicate. Before we had a chance to review the data Brendan Nelson pulled the surprise leadership vote and this morning lost to Malcolm Turnbull. Maybe Brendan Nelson's timing was poor, as for the past two weeks (w/e 06/09/2008 and 13/09/2008) he has trailed the new leader in search volume.

Of course both pale in comparison to the media curiosity around Peter Costello and the continuing question of will he or wont he, and the promotional tour for his soon to be released memoirs.

LIberalLeaders

As Bill points out gauging the sentiment behind the curiosity is more difficult. Looking at the search queries indicates the differences between the new and former Liberal leaders and Peter Costello.

Searches for Peter Costello are dominated by terms around his memoirs, treasurer, standing down / quitting, not challenging, funny quotes and his relationships with Jeanette and John Howard.

Brendan Nelson's key theme was his response to the "Sorry" speech, opinion polls, his horoscope and his family, while people are curious about Malcolm Turnbull's religion, his relationship with Kerry Packer, relatives and if he is a non-drinker.

Posted by Alan Long at 03:29 PM | (0) | (0)