Bing introduces Search Wave, a new way to visualize US Elections search trends

Arif Bacchus

Super Tuesday, the biggest moment yet for U.S. presidential candidates, is now just a day away. A total of 11 states, the most out of any single day this year, will be holding primary and caucus events. So, with the tensions high for Presidential hopefuls, Bing has already punched it’s numbers, and has predicted the results for the upcoming political event, while also introducing a new Search Wave feature.

Using data from polls, prediction markers, search-engine queries, and social-media posts, Bing has predicted that Donald Trump will win all but one of the Super Tuesday Republican primaries. The results are similar on the Democratic side, and Bing has predicted that Hillary Clinton will also win all but one of the Democratic primaries.  Ted Cruz and Bernie Sanders, meanwhile, will win their home states of Texas and Vermont.

Along with the current Bing Political Index, Election Timeline, and Primary Results experience, Bing has also added a new Search Wave feature. This new feature allows you to dig deeper into the searches for each candidates. Search Wave also breaks down candidate searches by state, age and gender, and gives you a more human view of how each candidate stands in the current political climate.

Search wave example.
Search wave example.

Search Wave uses anonymous data, and does not collect personal information. It is also worth noting that Search Wave measures volume and not sentiment, meaning that being more controversial may result in increased search volume. In addition, Bing’s election predictions measures the popular vote in a given state’s primary or caucus, rather than the delegates that will eventually vote at the party’s national convention.

Bing has previously shown a good track record with these predictions, and correctly guessed 7 of 8 party primaries correctly in January.