Swing States Yield Different Views of Pence Curse of the Fly

NEW YORK, Oct. 13, 2020 – Social media suggests that the fly landing on top of Vice President Mike Pence’s head during the Vice Presidential debate was the most memorable moment of the historic and pivotal event. A Google search analysis for U.S. Sen. Kamala Harris and Vice President Pence conducted before and after the debate in key swing states confirms that impression.

Lightbox Search, a new search intelligence platform that simplifies complex search analytics used by communication and marketing professionals, found Harris’ “Lightbox Score” remained steady at 80 on Oct. 6, 7 and 8 in key swing states, which is considered excellent. The score is a key measure of sentiment shown to Americans searching their phones and laptops for election or debate information.

Meanwhile, the Vice President’s score fell from an average of 73 pre-debate to 65 the day after the clash, falling into a low neutral level. The proprietary scores range from negative 100 to positive 100 with 75 and above being quite positive.

Lightbox Search’s findings did note that the fly didn’t play much of a role in Pennsylvania, where the VP’s number remained steady, but his Lightbox Search score fell markedly in Iowa, Florida, Ohio and North Carolina. The candidates’ relative performances and news of the day, specifically each candidate’s approach to safety protocols, also impacted the results. 

“The unique ability to pinpoint search results and sentiment by state, county or even city by Lightbox Search enables users to detect precisely where opportunities and threats exist, and can then help focus remediation where it’s needed,” said Jesse Jacobs, Chief Operating Officer of Lightbox Search.

“Google search results are often the first impression your potential visitor, client, voter or investor sees,” Jacobs said. “Identifying all risks and opportunities associated with Google search is no longer a luxury, but an imperative to help ensure your client, candidate, company or executive maintains a strong reputation. After all, Google is the nation’s most trusted and widely used medium for information.” 

A fly in the ointment may not have been the driving force behind the score changes for either candidate, but social media and news coverage played a key role in impacting search results.

About Lightbox Search

Lightbox Search is a first-of-its-kind SaaS platform that provides brands with Google search intelligence to help them measure, track and impact search results. The platform aggregates and simplifies data from multiple search engine optimization and marketing data sources, and provides intelligence with its proprietary algorithm analytics.