The Politics of Girl Scout Cookies

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Photo: transgriot.blogspot.com

It is that time of the year again, when people purchase multiple boxes of Girl Scout Cookies. As such, people craving those ever shrinking morsels of goodness, are searching the internet for information on where they can get their hands on some Thin Mints (which are excellent straight from freezer, in my opinion). Which part of the country is most excited about these annual treats? According to Google Insights, it is Omaha, Nebraska.Also based on Google searches, the most favored cookies are Thin Mints, Samoas, and Tagalongs (these results correspond with the most sold percentages listed on Wikipedia). What is your favorite?

 

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Photo: CNN.com

Of course, there has been a lot of buzz about the Republican Debates associated with this year's presidential primary. I thought it was interesting, but not surprising, that Utah has logged the most internet searches on the debates. I am fairly sure that this is the case because many Mormons are interested in the fate of Mitt Romney. The four states where most Mitt Romney searches occur are: Utah, Idaho, New Hampshire, and Massachussetts. Of course, Utah and Idaho have large Mormon populations and Romney was Governor of Massachussetts and has a home in New Hampshire. Gingrich searches are concentrated in South Carolina, Georgia, DC, and Iowa. Just as an experiment, lets see how well Google search scores (the numbers associated with the candidates below) translate into votes for a candidate. The search scores were for the day before the votes.

IOWA: Santorum - 36, Romney - 20, Gingrich - 11

NEW HAMPSHIRE: Romney - 75, Santorum - 47, Gingrich - 18

SOUTH CAROLINA: Gingrich - 59, Santorum - 36, Romney - 32

Florida
Chart: Google

If this pattern holds true, if the Florida election were held tomorrow, Gingrich would be the slight favored to win. However, my assessment is that the trends favor Romney, and my prediction is that Romney will be number one in searches and will win Florida. It will be interesting to see how tonight's debate will shift these numbers, which based on the opinions of the pundits, I expect again to see the numbers to shift towards Romney.

Nationally, Gingrich peaked on Sunday, Jan 22, but has since slipped with Romney regaining the lead in the "search votes" on Tuesday.

1/26/12 NATIONAL: Romney - 18, Gingrich - 15, Santorum - 6

On a side note, I have often heard that Ohio is a good measure of the nation as a whole, and it appears that the Google search scores of the candidates provides further proof of this.

1/26/12 OHIO: Romney - 18, Gingrich - 16, Santorum - 7

(Note: I purposely left Ron Paul out of the rankings, because his numbers are anomalies. Also as you can see, so far the numbers correspond with the winner, but not necessarily the second, third, ... places.)