A country's search behaviors and search history can help predict how political races and elections could turn out, experts suggested. The breakthrough could help people have a better understanding of how data can be used in various settings.
Google Data Editor Simon Rogers came up with a chart that tracks the interest of people in 23 of the U.S. Democratic party's presidential candidates. As presented by CNN, the current chart's tracking period lasted from December 30 through June 16, with the data indicating that Joe Biden is the most popular in terms of search.
The chart also indicates how issues over the past few months for certain candidates affected search interest among Google users. For instance, Senator Elizabeth Warren's popularity last year dropped significantly come spring.
Political analysts believe the interest in Warren dropped due in part to questions about her true heritage as well as the difficulties she faced in establishing a solid front in the race. Still, she is second to Biden in popularity.
Experts noted, though, that Google searches shouldn't be the only source for data on predicting outcomes of political races or national elections. Polls should also be used alongside searches despite increasing scrutiny over results of polling systems.
"Google search data is most useful in showing trends over time and interest in specific events," non-partisan political handicapping outlet, Cook Political Report, noted of the search engine's usability in political events.
Amid the possibilities that Google searches can offer, there are still industry analysts who believe the company is gathering data it shouldn't be accessing. Furthermore, the crackdown on American big tech firms as initiated by the White House is raging on.
On Monday, it was revealed that Senator Mark Warner of Virginia and Missouri's Republican Josh Hawley are introducing a new bill that could leave Google and other tech companies to disclose the worth of consumers' private data to their businesses.
Industry experts noted that the move is part of the efforts in giving the public a closer look at how Facebook, Google, and other data-centric firms could pose dangers to the private information of users.
If the bill passes all levels of jurisdiction, companies with over a hundred million users on a monthly basis will be required to disclose the financial value of the user data they collect from users across the globe.
With search behaviors being used to determine trends and consumer interest on certain people, events, or political candidates, it's no question that privacy is still a huge problem that Google and other U.S. tech firms need to resolve.
Last week, The Washington Post's Geoffrey Fowler revealed that for a week, he studied how Google collected his data and shifted to Mozilla Firefox after discovering how much information the former is taking based on his search behaviors.
While Firefox blocked tracking "cookies" from penetrating Fowler's computer, Google could have allowed for 11,189 cookies that should allow the search giant to track Fowler's search activities and build a profile through the data collected.
