What Data Tells Us About the 2016 Presidential Election

Throughout the presidential campaigns, we’ve analyzed media coverage of the election to try to understand what the data shows when it comes Trump vs. Clinton. Along the way, we’ve asked if there really is a correlation between coverage of a candidate and other factors, such as page views and poll numbers.

Read on for an overview of what we found in our 2016 election media data analysis.

The Scale: Election Media Coverage is Massive

Our data scientists analyzed over 2.8 billion page views from more than 300 media organizations beginning on November 2, 2015. Donald Trump recevied far higher coverage than any other candidate.

Here’s pageview volume by day:

Parse.ly election data for article volume — *Election data for all candidates showing total pageview volume by day.*

Initially, data indicated that readers were more interested in stories about Clinton. Between November 2015 and May 2016, an article on Hillary Clinton received six percent more page views than an article on Donald Trump.

Parse.ly election data showing page views per article — *Election data for all candidates showing page views per article.*

Starting in June however, articles featuring Trump quickly took over both in volume and views per article.

*Clinton vs. Trump pageviews per article data on the Election Day.*

All in all, the total volume of Trump/Clinton news has massively surpassed any other topic across our entire network.

Trump and Clinton media coverage — *Total volume of election coverage featuring Clinton or Trump.*

Election Data in the News

What else has the data shown? Check out these discussions sparked by election data on the Parse.ly blog and around the web. You can also manipulate the data yourself through the election dashboard.

In the News:

Donald Trump has taken over the internet, via Mashable
Can the media really rig the US presidential election?, via Quartz
This chart showing how Clinton and Trump’s scandals correlate to their poll numbers may surprise you, via Fast Company
Parse.ly analyzes campaign story page views and the polls, to create a look at presidential race, via Talking New Media
Trump Stories Get the Lion’s Share of Engagement Online, via MediaShift
How Trump Trumped the Media, via Forbes
Sad! Articles About Trump Get Fewer Clicks Than Articles About Clinton, Study Finds, via Inverse
The ‘Trump Effect’ on Cable News, via The Atlantic
Talking about Trump: Is anyone still listening?, via Talking New Media
Why Trump Stories Online Don’t Attract the Audience That TV Does, via MediaShift
With Political Traffic In Freefall, BNR’s Surge Proves Demand for Positive Hillary Coverage, via Blue Nation Review

On the Parse.ly Blog: