Skip to main content

New Election Buzz tracking tool powered by Twitter and Google keeps you in the loop

sxsl to performers announced white house washington dc
Image used with permission by copyright holder
As the campaign trail tirelessly marches on, it can often be a slog to keep up with all the news in the run-up to the 2016 presidential election. Now more than ever, social media and search engines also hold a treasure trove of valuable information in regards to the political climate.

If you don’t happen to be an online-savvy social media enthusiast, however, the likes of Twitter and Google Trends can prove difficult to get to grips with. Luckily, the Associated Press (which has been closely monitoring the primaries on its website) has created a tool that seemingly solves all your election tracking issues.

AP Election Buzz uses the power of the aforementioned digital resources to bring you easy-to-digest visualizations based on online activity regarding current events, primary candidates, and even policy issues.

In terms of interaction, you can split the data by time (stats from the past 24 hours, past week, past month, or even since August 1, 2015, are available) to see how each major caucus, debate, or endorsement has impacted public interest online, reports Wired.

AP’s Election Buzz, powered by @GoogleTrends & @Twitter, shows what's hot in #Election2016: https://t.co/7vwJe1yHwq pic.twitter.com/ut88IaD2zC

— AP Interactive (@AP_Interactive) March 1, 2016

For example, Donald Trump is the most mentioned candidate on Twitter in the past 24 hours, and also leads in terms of search interest on Google. You can filter Trump out by simply looking at the Democratic nominees, where Bernie Sanders is currently beating Hilary Clinton with a 53.6 percent share of conversation on Twitter and 56.9 percent of search interest on Google. In regards to policy issues, “national security” is driving the conversation on Twitter, whereas the “National Rifle Association” is the leading search term on Google.

The Google data comes courtesy of the company’s political index, which measures 2016 election search interests on a minute-by-minute basis and is updated every hour. The Twitter conversation is measured by analyzing tweets containing candidate names, campaign hashtags, and other terms related to the election. Again, the list of measured issues is regularly updated to reflect election cycle trends.

Editors' Recommendations

Saqib Shah
Former Digital Trends Contributor
Saqib Shah is a Twitter addict and film fan with an obsessive interest in pop culture trends. In his spare time he can be…
How to download YouTube videos on PC, iOS, Android, and Mac
A smartphone displaying YouTube on its screen as it lays on top of a laptop's keyboard.

If you're a YouTube fan like us, you might want to know what the most viewed YouTube videos are, and how to download YouTube videos.

Downloading a video from YouTube doesn’t seem like a big deal at first glance, but it comes with ethical concerns to consider, depending on the original post’s intent. As we've already mentioned, it's something Google definitely doesn't want you doing — it's a clear violation of YouTube's Terms of Service, but it's even more important to keep the original content creators in mind.

Read more
A new Best Buy sale just started – our 11 favorite deals
Presidents Day sales with electonic devices packed in open boxes.

If you've been looking to do some shopping recently but haven't found the best time, you're in luck! Best Buy has just started an excellent weekend sale with many different products, but, to help save you some hassle, we've collected our 11 favorite deals from the bunch, ranging from robot vacuums to gaming laptops. So, without further ado, let's dive right in!
Shark ION Robot RV761 -- $143, was $260

If you're looking to dip your toes into robot vacuums without spending a lot, the Shark ION Robot RV761 falls within the Shark Ion 700 range and has a few nifty features, making it a good starting robot vacuum. For example, it has a triple brush mechanism that makes it great for picking up pet hair and does relatively well on carpeted flooring. It also has its own that allows you to schedule and control it to fit your schedule, and it comes with sensing technology that lets it avoid bumping into things. On the other hand, it doesn't have home mapping, which is great for the privacy-minded, but that does mean the occasional bump does happen. The Shark ION RV761 has about 90 minutes of battery life before it takes itself in for recharging.

Read more
When is Prime Day 2023? Dates confirmed for the shopping event
Best Prime Day 2022 Deals graphic with multiple products.

After weeks of speculation, we finally know when Prime Day 2023 is kicking off. Amazon has announced that the event will start July 11 at 3AM ET and will run through July 12. As always, Prime members can score some fantastic deals from the sale with popular brands like Peloton, Victoria's Secret, YETI, and Sony just some of the names being touted by Amazon as featuring in the big sale. Members will also be able to shop more deals on small business products than ever before too. As always, expect great discounts on Amazon-owned properties like Kindles, Ring doorbells, Amazon Echo units, and so much more. It's the sale we've all been waiting for since Black Friday.

The Prime Day deals promise to drop every 30 minutes during select periods with deep discounts expected. Select discounts on other Amazon-related things are already available such as 20% off in-store purchases at

Read more