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Google Trends Electionland

electionlandtrends.appspot.com

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Re: Google Trends Electionland

#41

Post by philjr »

AndrewOMartin wrote: post #35
ryanSrich wrote: post #30

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You don't get the option to vote in person. We don't even have voter booths. Instead, the state mails you a voter guide and a ballot that you fill out in the convenience of your own home. This allows you to review the candidates and new proposed bills line by line. Once filled out you simply drop it off at one of the hundreds of drop-off locations and you're done (or mail it in if you have time). This can all be done…

And what if an intimidating person in your household has strong opinions about how you should mark that ballot?

You send them to bed early without dinner

Re: Google Trends Electionland

#42

Post by nhebb »

idm wrote: post #27

Sortof OT: I was also interested in election trends. While Google is focusing on real-time search trends regarding voting, I looked at meme trends leading up to the election. There are interesting trends in the amount of attention different candidate memes received over time. It will be interesting to see whether the attention received by candidates is translated into votes, today. Here's the working paper: http://ia…

They missed out on not including Reddit in the social networks. Reddit seemed like meme-central this election for Sanders and Trump.

Re: Google Trends Electionland

#44

Post by gmisra »

idm wrote: post #27

Sortof OT: I was also interested in election trends. While Google is focusing on real-time search trends regarding voting, I looked at meme trends leading up to the election. There are interesting trends in the amount of attention different candidate memes received over time. It will be interesting to see whether the attention received by candidates is translated into votes, today. Here's the working paper: http://ia…

And, all of the underlying data is available on Kaggle: https://www.kaggle.com/SIZZLE/2016electionmemes

Re: Google Trends Electionland

#45

Post by mangeletti »

I just had to vote "provisional" myself (Palm Beach County).

I have a feeling there is going to be a lot of fraud reports against the Florida Board of Elections. We registered almost 2 weeks before our Oct 11 deadline, yet neither my wife nor I were in their system - we received no mail or anything from the BoE.

My vote, I'm absolutely certain now, will be thrown in the trash. Even if it isn't, the election will be over by the time it's "counted".

Think I'm simply spreading FUD? Take a look at the 2004 Florida general election... this state's election board is wholly corrupted.

Re: Google Trends Electionland

#46

Post by knz »

ryanSrich wrote: post #22

On days like this I'm glad I live in Oregon. Honestly it's the only sane and responsible way to vote.

It's not an either or scenario. Other countries manage to have voting in person without election day shenanigans like long lines to vote.

Re: Google Trends Electionland

#47

Post by alistairSH »

NelsonMinar wrote: post #37

It's pretty but what is this really telling us? There's a 126% increase in searchers for "Voter intimidation" in Hoback, Wyoming. OK, so does that mean that someone's being intimidated? Planning to intimidate? Curious about the news? Does a "126% increase" mean there were 7 searches today instead of just 4?

And increase since when? What's the baseline?

I would expect most of these searches to increase in frequency on election day, even relative to SuperTuesday or 2012.

Re: Google Trends Electionland

#48

Post by listentojohan »

NelsonMinar wrote: post #37

It's pretty but what is this really telling us? There's a 126% increase in searchers for "Voter intimidation" in Hoback, Wyoming. OK, so does that mean that someone's being intimidated? Planning to intimidate? Curious about the news? Does a "126% increase" mean there were 7 searches today instead of just 4?

Good points, I thought the same, but they actually address that if you click the logo (though it's just a possible explanation of how that data point might be explained): "FEARS OF VOTER INTIMIDATION KEEPING PEOPLE FROM THE POLLS

We’ve had a lot of reports of people worried about going to the polls because of threats of voter intimidation. While the fears are real — and we certainly expect to see one-off issues of attempts at intimidating voters (like the Trump supporters will bull horns in West Palm Beach) — there is no evidence to suggest that an organized campaign to intimidate voters is underway. "

[1] https://projects.propublica.org/electionland/

Re: Google Trends Electionland

#49

Post by hairofadog »

girzel wrote: post #21
jplahn wrote: post #9

A 100% increase in searches for "voter intimidation" in my city (Seattle) is interesting. I'd love additional context on who is searching for that (i.e. is it the intimidators or the fearful?) Nonetheless, this seems like the beginning of an interesting tool. What would it take to do some sort of fuzzy matching on related searches, like broken voting machines for voting machine problems? I suppose you could wait for…

Given that Washington State is all mail-in, I doubt we're seeing a lot of actual voter intimidation! I'm also in Seattle, and dropped my ballot off at one of three drop-off points. There were some nice people in smocks there who thanked me for voting.

Voter suppression has been a big news topic in this election. For example:

http://www.nytimes.com/2016/11/07/magazine/the-supreme-court...

http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2016/11/01/opinion/voting...

People may be expressing an interest or searching for information even if they're not experiencing it directly.

Re: Google Trends Electionland

#50

Post by idm »

gmisra wrote: post #44
idm wrote: post #27

Sortof OT: I was also interested in election trends. While Google is focusing on real-time search trends regarding voting, I looked at meme trends leading up to the election. There are interesting trends in the amount of attention different candidate memes received over time. It will be interesting to see whether the attention received by candidates is translated into votes, today. Here's the working paper: http://ia…

And, all of the underlying data is available on Kaggle: https://www.kaggle.com/SIZZLE/2016electionmemes

Totally - it's the first time I've messed with the platform and I can see some real value there!
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