September 17, 2015

If You Are Wondering Who Won the Debates Tonight, Google Analytics Can Help

Fiorina started edging up to Trump and Carson.

Armando Arorizo/Zuma

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If Google searches are any indication, several of the GOP candidates dominated the others during tonight’s two debates. The first debate included Sen. Lindsey Graham, Gov. George Pataki, Rick Santorum, and Gov. Bobby Jindal. The event seemed to be dominated by Graham’s quips about drinking, and his lack of time spent in libraries. Graham also saw a surge in Google searches, according to Google Trends: 

It’s clear that Graham saw a surge in attention Wednesday night, and a lot of people were saying he “won.” But Jindal also seemed to liven up his lackluster campaign by attracting some more attention:

Then, during the main event, GOP front-runner Donald Trump did well, as usual. But former Hewlett Packard CEO Carly Fiorina came out strong and held her own all night. Google searches showed her right up there with Trump and Dr. Ben Carson, and even ahead of them at certain points:

And perhaps Jeb Bush helped himself a bit, especially when he told Trump to apologize for dragging his Mexican American wife into the race:

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BEFORE YOU CLICK AWAY!

“Lying.” “Disgusting.” “Scum.” “Slime.” “Corrupt.” “Enemy of the people.” Donald Trump has always made clear what he thinks of journalists. And it’s plain now that his administration intends to do everything it can to stop journalists from reporting things they don’t like—which is most things that are true.

No one gets to tell Mother Jones what to publish or not publish, because no one owns our fiercely independent newsroom. But that also means we need to directly raise the resources it takes to keep our journalism alive. There’s only one way for that to happen, and it’s readers like you stepping up. Please help with a donation today if you can—even a few bucks will make a real difference. A monthly gift would be incredible.

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