Google Shows Wide Support for Romney in 2012

(Note: The following is speculation and not scientific. Disclosure: I supported Mitt Romney’s 2008 Republican candidacy.)

Here’s some optimism for Mitt Romney should he want to pursue another shot at the White House.

Just for fun, I decided a short time ago to run the names of some of the 2008 Republican hopefuls into the Google search engine to assess their possible support in future presidential bids. I did this by placing their last names in quotes along with the year 2012 and then the year 2016 (examples: “Romney 2012” or “Thompson 2016”), and then recording how many references there were to that exact phrase online. Since 2012 and 2016 will be the next presidential election years after this year, I figured that how often a slogan phrase like the candidate’s name and the election year came up would give an indication to how many of a candidates’ strongest backers wanted their candidate to run again. Mitt Romney led by far in terms of the 2012 search results, more than doubling those of Ron Paul and Fred Thompson. I have provided the full results below for your perusal:


Candidate.........2012 Results*............2016 Results*

Mitt Romney..............1,130.......................................2
Ron Paul......................500........................................103
Fred Thompson.........448...........................................9
John McCain...............14............................................12
Mike Huckabee..........13.............................................4
Rudy Giuliani...............9..............................................4


So what do these numbers mean? In truth, I do not have enough experience in the study of human behavior or data analysis to offer any definitive conclusion, I can only offer to you my best guesses at what the results of my study could mean.

First, let’s get the Ron Paul thing out of the way. His second place rank in the 2012 results and dominating lead in the 2016 results are not because he is a popular candidate. Paul has but a small number of actual supporters, but they’re often forceful, rabid, and desperate for attention. Thus, the Internet is their playground and only real place to get behind their candidate by spreading his name all across the digital world.

Second, Mitt Romney in 2012. A commanding lead over the other five, but last in 2016 numbers. This means (again, I have no credentials to interpret definitively) that Romney supporters want him to be president as soon as possible, not just someday. Because John McCain is the presumptive GOP nominee in 2008, this means that Romney supporters are either hoping for a challenge to McCain should he seek re-election if he is elected in November (which may not be a bad thing if McCain pushes a non-conservative agenda in his administration) or that McCain will be defeated in November (which would cast a dark cloud over America during a four-year-long full-blown left-wing administration) and Romney would rise to become the Republican candidate to clean up the nation after a disastrous term of Hillary Clinton or Barack Obama.

Third, John McCain in 2012 and 2016. Not a whole lot of support in future ambitions, at least not at the moment. (Note: McCain could not serve a third term if elected in 2008 and re-elected in 2012.) Perhaps this shows that his rise to the 2008 GOP nomination is a fluke based on so many factors that played out in this election cycle, which I believe to be the most unpredictable in history. (No incumbents running, the number of candidates at one time running in both parties, the beginning of the race essentially in early 2007, many states moving up their primaries, and the coming and going of media-dubbed “inevitable” candidates are just some of the factors making 2008 a historically different campaign cycle.)

And last, the rankings of Mitt Romney and Fred Thompson in my investigation show a demand for conservatism the next go around. I don’t consider myself out of line when I say that we could see (and I’d even hope for) a Romney-Thompson ticket the next time the GOP nominates.

Well, that’s what I think anyway.


© 2008 Justin Margeson for A Forum for Freedom. All rights reserved.


*Results listed as “about” (about that many results) by Google on the top right of the first page of each quoted-term search. (Quoting search terms requires the terms to appear in the order they are listed.) Actual results may vary. Results used in this post retrieved between 12:26 a.m. and 12:29 a.m. Eastern on February 10, 2007.