The Hottest Campaign Sites

Barack Obama has the hottest campaign website, according to the new Nielsen ratings. His site drew over 700,000 unique visitors in July, while Hillary Clinton and John Edwards drew just under 440,000 and 350,000, respectively. Yet all three Democratic candidates are creaming the Republican field online.

Out of the declared G.O.P. candidates, Rudy Giuliani led with a measly 124,000 unique visitors in July – one sixth of Obama's traffic. To make up the gap, Republican candidates are spending more on web advertising. John McCain and Mitt Romney lead in "sponsored" traffic, while Dennis Kucinich leads Democrats on that score. Fred Thompson's presidential announcement also sparked huge interest online, as TechPresident's Patrick Ruffini reports this weekend.

But does it even matter if voters see these campaign sites?

Yes, when they actually take time to learn about the candidates. In the 2006 election, one out of five voters visited candidate sites for news. That's the same share of voters who said they got news from blogs or international news sites like the BBC, according to The Pew Research Center.

Some visits are so short that voters probably aren't learning anything. Romney's traffic looks as fleeting as his pro-choice credentials: visitors spend less than a minute on the site. Meanwhile, Clinton leads the entire pack in studious visitors, clocking an average of 8 minutes. Obama, Giuliani and Ron Paul fans average about 7 minutes. John Edwards' visitors only spare about 4 minutes, probably because the site has focused on spiking traffic with viral outreach, drawing less politically engaged viewers. (Former Dean Internet guru Joe Trippi measures the results on "a 90-day calendar that tracks, in a jumble of red, green and black numbers, the spikes and dips in traffic to the campaign's Web site," as the Times recently reported.) Anyway, the long visits to HillaryClinton.com must make Bill Clinton happy. He's been arguing that Hillary's negative ratings are artificially high from "15 years" of Republican attacks, while "the people that know her best" like her more, as he told Larry King last week. The former President argues that in places where people have more primary information about Hillary, such as New York and Arkansas, she has stronger support, even among Republicans:

If you look at Arkansas ... in all the recent polls, she is beating all of the Republicans handily there, because a large number of people know her, not the cartoon of her that has been presented.

By that logic, Hillary's next gains could come in cyberspace, where people bypass cartoon coverage and actually read up on candidates.

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Nielsen provides some data in this PDF.

Comments (11)

1. Little confused, Mr Melber....

   the first part of your article talks about how Obama is stomping Hillary on "site hits"...and the last part talks about how great she's doing on "long visits"?

   Why discuss "hit counts" if it's "time on the site" that really matters???

   Posted by Mask at 09/08/2007 @ 7:57pm

2. Posted by MASK 09/08/2007 @ 7:57pm

   Two points, in one article, too much for your little brain?

   Posted by Malcontent at 09/08/2007 @ 8:17pm

3. "The Hottest Campaign Sites"

   "according to the new Nielsen ratings."

   ""sponsored" traffic"

   yep, just as i suspected

   "and actually read up on candidates."

   please

   Posted by frosty zoom at 09/08/2007 @ 8:18pm

4. Posted by MALCONTENT 09/08/2007 @ 8:17pm

   Two CONTRADICTORY points....yeah, a bit confused, Eric.

   Posted by Mask at 09/08/2007 @ 9:56pm

5. "The Hottest Campaign Sites".....

   Oh, Puhleeeeeze! The average voter frankly don't give a shit at this point.....even at a million hits per month, that's chump hits! Get real....those that spend time on the web on anything political are news junkies and Lefty keyboard activists....generally GUYS (and a few gals) a level or two below us bloggers......hehehheheh....

   Hey, CARBB, a good day....Michigan lost (now 4 in a row....hasn't happened in 40 yrs), Notre Dame lost (my most hated team), Georgia Tech won, Texas won, Florida won, Texas A&M won (got some Aggie friends).....everybody, have a drink on me! LOL!!!!

   I love neighborhood sports bars......Nice place to hang out for NOT having cable TV....

   Hey, FROSTY, you know the song, "I feel good......" is that by James Brown?? Hehehehe....

   Posted by Happy at 09/08/2007 @ 11:32pm

6. Hey, FROSTY, you know the song, "I feel good......" is that by James Brown?? Hehehehe....

   Posted by HAPPY 09/08/2007 @ 11:32pm

   actually it's called "i got you"

   Escape-ism (intro)

   I was talking to a cat the other night,

   He said what everybody is

   looking for,

   what everybody's looking for today,

   they're looking for ESCAPE-ISM.

   Heh. Heh.

   Ain't

   it good to you? (Band: "Yeah")

   JAMES BROWN, 1971

   Posted by frosty zoom at 09/09/2007 @ 12:31am

7. But does it even matter if voters see these campaign sites?

   No,..not at all.

   Now,if they could get as many hits as the average porn site, then you would have something...but 8 minutes??? 700,000 hits???

   Our own DARLA has more hits and held it in longer than 8 minutes...

   Posted by john maasch at 09/09/2007 @ 12:43am

8. I wrote a specific question to Mr. Obama's site and only received a generic reply telling me he cares about everything. Now, I get a constant stream of requests for contributions.

   I suspect every candidate's site is the same.

   Posted by RAGGEDSTEP at 09/09/2007 @ 10:38am

9. http://tuskandtalon.blogspot.com/2007/09/deja-hsu.html

   Deja Hsu

   This all seems so familiar. A Clinton running for president, mysterious bundles of campaign contributions from people with little money, major fundraisers with Chinese ties and background who disappear from the face of the earth one step ahead of a subpoena. Do we have to go through the whole stinking mess again?

   A cynic might think the only thing Hillary learned from the campaign finance controversy of 1996 is that she can get away with anything. A congressional investigation came up empty when 94(!) witnesses took the fifth, left the country or simply refused to testify. One of the names mentioned in the report on that investigation is…drum roll please…Norman Hsu....

   Posted by Happy at 09/09/2007 @ 12:24pm

10. Posted by FRANKGRITS 09/09/2007 @ 1:35pm

    Before her self-indulgent attack on Katha Pollitt for DARING to suggest that Cindy should run against a Blue Dog Democrat and not Nancy Pelosi....I would have said "Understandable and she has my sympathy".

    Now, after showing that it's "all about Cindy" and anybody who dare crosses Her Sainthood in the slightest....I say, "So what? Another HSUBFOOLS-like rant. Plenty of them out there."

    Posted by Mask at 09/09/2007 @ 3:02pm

11. I wrote a specific question to Mr. Obama's site and only received a generic reply telling me he cares about everything. Now, I get a constant stream of requests for contributions.

    I suspect every candidate's site is the same.

    Posted by RAGGEDSTEP 09/09/2007 @ 10:38am

    better clean out the cookies

    Posted by frosty zoom at 09/10/2007 @ 03:34am