Decisions, Decisions

Not What to Decide, but How

Dan Goldstein is Assistant Professor at London Business School and Principal Research Scientist at Yahoo! Research. See full bio

November 6, 2008, Behavioral Economics

Sarah Palin vs Joe Biden: The Post-Election View

The Palin Biden debate continues ... in cyberspace.

You know the rules from the last posts. Here's how the Palin-Biden showdown looks now that the election is over:

Sarah Palin

Search Engine: Google.com

"sarah palin" AND "bad decision" -biden    20300
"sarah palin" AND "good decision" -biden    13700
Good-to-bad ratio    0.67

"bad decision" AND +palin   -biden    38800
"good decision" AND +palin -biden    26100
Good-to-bad ratio    0.67

"sarah palin" AND "bad choice" -biden    23600
"sarah palin" AND "good choice" -biden    71600
Good-to-bad ratio    3.03

"bad choice" AND +palin -biden    41700
"good choice" AND +palin -biden    121000
Good-to-bad ratio    2.90

Search Engine: Google blog search (blogsearch.google.com)

"sarah palin" AND "bad decision" -biden    420
"sarah palin" AND "good decision" -biden    262
Good-to-bad ratio    0.62

"bad decision" AND +palin   -biden    519
"good decision" AND +palin -biden    321
Good-to-bad ratio    0.62

"sarah palin" AND "bad choice" -biden    1026
"sarah palin" AND "good choice" -biden    2032
Good-to-bad ratio    1.98

"bad choice" AND +palin -biden    1552
"good choice" AND +palin -biden    3038
Good-to-bad ratio    1.96

Joe Biden

Search Engine: Google.com

"bad decision" AND "joe biden" AND -palin    4250
"good decision" AND "joe biden" AND -palin    2780
Good-to-bad ratio    0.65

"bad decision" AND +biden AND -palin    8120
"good decision" AND +biden AND -palin    5870
Good-to-bad ratio    0.72

"bad choice" AND "joe biden" AND -palin    6720
"good choice" AND "joe biden" AND -palin    20400
Good-to-bad ratio    3.04

"bad choice" AND "biden" AND -palin    12800
"good choice" AND "biden" AND -palin    40300
Good-to-bad ratio    3.15

Search Engine: Google blog search (blogsearch.google.com)

"bad decision" AND "joe biden" AND -palin    115
"good decision" AND "joe biden" AND -palin    103
Good-to-bad ratio    0.90

"bad decision" AND +biden AND -palin    191
"good decision" AND +biden AND -palin    150
Good-to-bad ratio    0.79

"bad choice" AND "joe biden" AND -palin    215
"good choice" AND "joe biden" AND -palin    406
Good-to-bad ratio    1.89

"bad choice" AND "biden" AND -palin    348
"good choice" AND "biden" AND -palin    1625
Good-to-bad ratio    4.67

Results

Competition I: "Good decision" to "bad decision" ratio

Palin's scores are: .67, .67, .62, .62 for an average of .65

Biden's scores are: .65, 72, .90, .79 for an average of .76

Competition II: "Good choice" to "bad choice" ratio

Palin's scores are: 3.03, 2.90, 1.98, 1.96 for an average of 2.47

Biden's scores are: 3.04, 3.15, 1.89, 4.67 for an average of 3.19

Biden edges out Palin in both competitions, which is the same as last time and the time before that.

Given that the election is over, I would have expected the loser's Good-to-bad ratio to fall sharply relative to the winner's, which doesn't seem to have happened. Biden's lead has been rather steady. There are still mostly old posts out there being picked up by search engines, so we'll try again in a few weeks. We have noticed that out on the wild Web there are many discussions like "was Palin a good choice?" but fewer similar discussions about Biden. These discussions, of course, elevate hits for for "Palin" and "good choice" even though they don't register a positive opinion.