New Delhi: Congress President Rahul Gandhi has emerged as the most searched politician in the online news segment, beating his political nemesis Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
According to Google Trends, on a scale of 0-100, Rahul scored 45, while Modi scored 34 between January 1, 2018, and January 6, 2019.
December 2018, Rahul Gandhi (44 worldwide, 49 in India) was ahead of Modi (35 worldwide, 38 in India) in terms of search on Google News. As we inch closer to the 2019 Lok Sabha elections, it appears that this election season might not be the one-sided affair 2014 was, with Rahul Gandhi’s popularity oscillating but steadily increasing with each pull-back.
Google Trends records search queries containing keywords related to Modi and Rahul Gandhi and shows the data using graphs. The query numbers are rated on a scale of 0-100.
Interestingly, in 2014, Narendra Modi appeared as the most popular leader by a wide margin, scoring 37 on a scale of 100, compared with Gandhi’s insignificant 4. Until recently, Gandhi was seen as nowhere close to competitor Modi.
While Modi’s popularity remains intact in Gujarat, Gandhi’s has seen a rise in other regions, according to Google Trends. In states like Tamil Nadu, Bihar, Madhya Pradesh, Karnataka, Maharashtra, Himachal Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh and Haryana, the Gandhi scion seems to have an edge over Modi.
Between January and April 2018, the median count of Gandhi’s retweets was consistently higher than the median retweet counts of Modi, according to a study by University of Michigan. What’s interesting to note is that the Congress party president’s Twitter following, at only 7.6 million, is dwarfed by Modi’s 44 million followers.
Agencies
