Which Memphis mayor candidates are trending on Google
by: David Royer
MEMPHIS, Tenn. — An analysis of Google searches in Memphis in the last 30 days suggests which mayoral candidates may have the most buzz, at least when it comes to interest among those online.
Google Trends indicates Paul Young is by far the most-searched name among leading candidates. Following Young in local Google searches are Floyd Bonner, Willie Herenton, Joe Brown and Van Turner, in that order.
Google Trends only allows the comparison of five search terms at once, but indicated Michelle McKissack just below the leaders of the Google pack, with J.W. Gibson and Karen Camper behind her.
When configured to show search results for candidates Young, Bonner, Turner, Herenton and McKissack, Google Trends shows 50% of the Google searches for that group were for Young, with other candidates ranking in the teens or single digits.
Unlike polling data, Google search trends are an unscientific measurement of candidate strength.
A recent poll of likely voters by Emerson College and commissioned by WREG has its own findings, and shows the largest set of voters were still undecided. See the results here.
A total of 17 candidates are in the running for the Memphis mayor’s job in the Oct. 5 election. See a full sample ballot here.
Four candidates are participating in a WREG debate Tuesday at 7 p.m. Find more information here.
About Post Author
