Database study indicates election topics dominate searches
NEW YORK, Sept. 2 /PRNewswire/ -- Journalists hungry for anything and
everything to do with George W. Bush and John Kerry have conducted more than a
half million searches of the LexisNexis news and information database,
according to an extensive study conducted by senior research engineers at the
Dayton-based company.
From April 1 to July 15, the names of the two presidential hopefuls were
searched in conjunction with a variety of words associated with the pair
540,458 times, the analysis showed. And, its no surprise election-related
verbiage most often dominated the text of those searches.
For instance, journalists searching the word Iraq did so in connection
with Bush's name 3,013 times. Meanwhile, Kerry and Iraq was searched 847
times. But, the word Vietnam was searched 739 times for Kerry while only 123
times for Bush.
It was the name of the challenger that was most-often searched in
connection with the name of each candidate. Journalists searching the phrase
George W. Bush attached the words John Kerry more than another other search -
a total of 4,593 times. On the other hand, journalists specifically searching
for John Kerry included the words George W. Bush 4,581 times.
Overall, during the study period, journalists searched the name of
incumbent President Bush 54,836 times while looking up John Kerry only 36,951
times.
How's that stack up against similar searches during the 2000 presidential
election? From July to October 2000, George W. Bush's name was searched 33,585
times by journalists using the LexisNexis "news library" function. Meanwhile,
Al Gore's name was pulled up 31,553 times. Coincidentally, Bush won by an
incredibly close margin in an election where there was no incumbent.
"It's a stretch to make any comparison of the two elections," said Steve
Edwards, a PR director for LexisNexis. "In 2004, we have an incumbent
president whose name has been associated with many searches not related to the
election. Therefore, the playing field is not level. But, in 2000, there was
no incumbent so Al Gore and George W. Bush had the same likelihood of being
the topic of a LexisNexis search. So, it's safe to say that the person whose
name was searched the most during that time frame in 2000 by journalists
ultimately became the president of the United States."
After the names of their opponent, the top 10 searched words in
association with each candidate are:
Bush Kerry
Iraq 3013 Edwards 1938
Campaign 1751 International 1233
Cheney 1373 Health 1170
Poll 1330 Teresa 1140
Gore 1178 Service 1130
War 1173 Mother 940
International 1037 Cookie 935
Clinton 968 Brothers 933
National 847 Commercial 929
Laura 846 Industries 924
Off the beaten path, journalists searched the name of the president's
brother, Jeb, and Florida in connection with George W. Bush 580 times. On the
Kerry side, journalists appeared to be interested in his eating habits,
searching 916 times each in connection with his name for words like snack,
pasta, noodle, desert, cracker, bread, baked, and bagel.
Here are some words searched in connection with each candidate and the
total number of times:
Term Bush Kerry
War 1171 454
Service 395 1130
Heart (in association with purple) 0 150
Terror (and terrorism) 462 114
Tax (taxpayer, taxes) 651 348
Intelligence 178 85
Lie (lies) 14 8
Volunteer 48 24
In the four years between the 2000 and 2004 election, the world has seen
some significant changes. What was a hot topic in 2000 is, in some cases,
barely an issue in the 2004 election. Likewise, new words like "terrorism" and
"intelligence" emerged in 2004 as the new headline grabbers.
From July 1 to October 30, journalists searched the LexisNexis news and
information database more than 2,300 times for the word tax (and taxpayer,
taxes), in association with both candidates' names. Al Gore and tax was
explored 1060 times, compared to 1322 times for GWB. And, Iraq was all but
neglected during that election: 59 searches with GWB and 69 searches with
Gore. Terrorism was searched only 55 times during the 2000 time frame - five
for Gore and 50 for GWB.
One offbeat search from 2000 that wasn't an issue in 2004 involved the
quest for truth. The word "lies" was searched in 2000 in connection with Al
Gore's name (26) more than of all the combined searches for George Bush in
both elections (22) and John Kerry in 2004 (8).
The most prolific searches conducted by journalists seemed to fan the
flame of public debates. That word -- debate -- was paired with Gore 1482
times during the study period and another 1299 times with Bush.
"This study of the LexisNexis news and information database produces no
scientific evidence that establishes a correlation between what journalists
are searching and what drives election debate," Edwards said, "but it provides
excellent anecdotal information regarding trends in searching the database and
how those searches are turned into stories. The 2004 election has been
dominated by headlines that include the words we've mentioned in the search
strings."
About LexisNexis
LexisNexis(R) ( http://www.lexisnexis.com ) is a leader in comprehensive
and authoritative legal, news and business information and tailored
applications. A member of Reed Elsevier Group plc (NYSE: ENL); (NYSE: RUK)
( http://www.reedelsevier.com ), the company does business in 100 countries
with 13,000 employees worldwide. In addition to its flagship Web-based
Lexis(R) and Nexis(R) research services, the company includes some of the
world's most respected legal publishers such as Martindale-Hubbell, Matthew
Bender, Butterworths, JurisClasseur, Abeledo-Perrot and Orac.
SOURCE LexisNexis
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Related links:
http://www.lexis-nexis.com
http://www.reedelsevier.com
CONTACT:
Randy Dunham of LexisNexis, +1-937-865-8836,
or mrandy.dunham@lexisnexis.com
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