Horserace Coverage and Search

• In Event: Polling Results and Voters' Perceptions

Abstract

We examine how people search for polls, news, and opportunities for engagement in politics, as the fortunes of their candidates go up or down. On days when their candidates are doing better, or worse, do they shift their quantity and percentage of news coverage and engagement opportunities? When people search for polling information, what type of searches normally follow that: and how does that vary depending on what type of results they may have found that day. Horserace coverage is increasingly important part of the coverage of elections, and this paper helps explore how that coverage correlates with other types of information seeking.

Authors

• Masha T Krupenkin, Boston College

• David Rothschild