Presto-Changeo! Buzz Swings to the Right
by WonkoSteve
Just three weeks ago, WonkoKevin and I were marveling about how all the talk was about the Democratic candidates. Day after day it was Clinton on top by a large margin (with the conservatives throwing brickbats and the liberals bouquets) followed by Obama and Edwards, not necessarily in that order. Todays numbers represent a compete reversal, as this graph shows.
Beginning on August 24th the Liberal buzz share hit a high of 80% and began a slide down to about 30% yesterday. During the same time, conservative candidates went from near 20% to near 70%, a nearly complete reversal of the numbers.
To be sure, this has something to do with buzz about Fred Thompson, who moved from 15% to 40% over the time period. But that could only account for a little less than half of the movement. Likewise there is a clear inflection point two days ago after the New Hampshire Republican debate, but the trend started weeks before that.
So what besides the Thompson campaign accounts for the change? That’s a really good question. Is it natural volatility in the buzz market? Are Democrats losing momentum (especially Obama, who has dropped 15% in recent weeks)? Are conservatives revving-up the campaign machine? You comments welcome.
