Google's Politics and Elections Blog looked at which 2012 presidential candidates are leading the field in terms of Google search traffic, and Paul came out well ahead of the rest of the pack across the country and in Iowa and New Hampshire -- two important election states.
Google found that "Ron Paul" was one of the most popular News Search queries through the month of December, even beating out terms such as "Christmas."
Google says:
Back in Iowa, which hosts the nation’s first caucuses, only two News Search terms, [iowa] and [news], are more popular than [ron paul]. And nationwide, the only other 2012 presidential candidate making the list of top News Search terms is [obama], which boasts only half as many queries as [ron paul], which has more than doubled in nationwide volume over the past 30 days.
Of course, there's a caveat. Search popularity doesn't differentiate between "positive" and "negative" results. For Paul, many of the queries have to do with his plans for Iowa, how he's polling and how he's campaigning. Some of the fastest-rising search queries in the past 30 days have been more negative including [ron paul newsletter] and [ron paul racist].
These terms might reflect interest in a series of controversial newsletters that bore Paul's name in the '80s and '90s.
His massive search popularity will certainly put to test the maxim that all publicity is good publicity. At least in Iowa, it didn't get Paul the win. Is search term popularity and volume a good metric for judging the 2012 presidential candidates? Let us know your thoughts in the comments below.