Senator Obama soundly beat Senator Clinton in the Iowa Caucuses last week. And he maintains an impressive lead in most online statistics as well. He has 212,000 MySpace friends, 50,000 more than any other candidate (and he’s added 5,000 more in the last day or so). He won the MySpace New Year’s Poll with 46% of the Democrat vote. Senator Clinton took second with just 31%. People who live in Iowa and New Hampshire are visiting Obama’s website more than any other candidate.
It’s no surprise to me that he’s so popular on the Internet. He’s just 46 - young enough to mostly get the Internet generation. He embraced social networks early. He continues to lead polls in the younger demographic, perhaps due to that early adoption. And in our interview with Senator Obama it was clear that he’s put more time and thought into his digital/technology policies than any other candidate. He’s taken the time to embrace the Internet, and the Internet is embracing him right back.
Senator Obama is also leading the TechCrunch Tech President poll with a healthy 54% of all democrat votes.
The next primary is on Tuesday in New Hampshire. Early polls put Senator Obama just behind Senator Clinton.
For more on the candidates and the issues, visit TechPresident (not affiliated with our poll) and Political Base. And tune into the Facebook/ABC presidential debate tonight at 4 pm EST - all of the leading candidates are participating.
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Obama also streamed his speech with Oprah Winfrey LIVE on Ustream..
http://www.ustream.tv/recorded.....Xc8aSIKDpg
Go Obama go!
Personally, the last people in the world I want involved in changing technology are politicians. They can only direct or make restrictions, they can’t invent or innovate or predict anything. The less I see or hear them getting involved in my business the better.
However, so far so good for Obama, I’d love it if he put Team Clinton to bed for good. It’s a new millenium for crying out loud, let’s have done already.
Regardless of anyone’s popularity among Web 2.0 techies, the bottom line is the popularity among AMERICAN VOTERS who are likely to vote.
And of course, come the day of the election…..
Sadly…I am leaving my vote empty for president this election.
None have impressed me so far and am tired of casting negative votes…
Clinton/Gore supported the ISH, Gore even had a hand in its creation now we cant get rid of that asshat.
So I am not buying the “I support technology” crap!
If people want to get back to real democracy, and bring a halt to the government intervention in our lives, Ron Paul is the man. Too many politicians, especially President, operate by the seat of their pants and on whims, rather then our Constitution. This policital correctness crap is on it’s downside. Let’s bring American back.
I am so sick and tired of our economy being controlled by the Fed Reserve Bank, which is made up of private banks. Our government sold our country to the bankers years ago. America needs to regain control of it’s wealth.
Obama, Clinton, Romney, yada yada yada…….SSDP
@Morgan
I disagree, they should be involved… like a good manager, they should be removing barriers. Most of today’s politicians are only good at creating them, IMO.
I’m not sure who wins the presidency this time but Obama does (to me) seem a bit young and inexperienced compared with most others in the race. McCain seems like the one that most deserves to win.
Barack Obama is ready to be our next president! It’s exciting to see soo many people get involved in the process this time. People really want change in the world…
Obama has re-engaged thousands of young and disinterested voters across the country, and for that, he should get kudos. I, for one, am more excited about this election than I have ever been. I truly believe this man represents a change in which America is perceived and will be remembered as one of the great leaders in this country’s history.
The majority of Obama’s support on the internet comes from people not yet even old enough to vote. Obama for President of MY SPACE. ( wink ) And he promises free music downloads for all.
I’ve never been so excited about a candidate ever. Just his very makeup makes him such a change. I hope he take NH and makes history. Time to let the baby boomers retire. Obama will be the first GenX president and what a change that will be. He is our jfk, rfk. I really hope he takes it.
He is a wolf in sheep’s clothing.
Why is there no mention of Edwards in this article? He beat Hilliary in the Iowa caucuses AND he has better stances on tech issues than Obama. Why is he not getting mentioned?
And that speech after Iowa was stirring to say the least…I am a little worried about the sprint though (they never last)
There is definitely some momentum gathering with Obama’s push.. My 13 and 15 year old have been talking about him, how great he speaks… So he has definitely opened up the younger generation..
“Regardless of anyone’s popularity among Web 2.0 techies, the bottom line is the popularity among AMERICAN VOTERS who are likely to vote.”
And of course, come the day of the election…..
SERIOUSLY. lol, “50000 more friends” <- nobody cares about hat crap. The nerdy web brigade isn’t going to make a dent in the real elections.
“There is definitely some momentum gathering with Obama’s push.. My 13 and 15 year old have been talking about him, how great he speaks… So he has definitely opened up the younger generation..”
Again, another section of society that won’t influence the election’s outcome.
“Why is there no mention of Edwards in this article? He beat Hilliary in the Iowa caucuses AND he has better stances on tech issues than Obama. Why is he not getting mentioned?”
Isn’t it obvious? Arrington is skewed towards Obama therefore he gives him more coverage.
Sorry to spoil it for you but the US of A is not ready for a black (Obama) or a female (Clinton) president.
Before you jump on me, let me tell you that I believe that race/gender should NOT matter, but like it or not, that’s the reality in America. Their only chance would be if the republican candidate does something really really stupid during the race.
the debate begins at 7pm PST not 4pm
I think it will be interesting to see how New Hampshire goes, if Hillary snags a win - if she does she’ll milk it for all she can and it’ll be a major problem for the Obama camp, despite the initial lead. She’s got a lot of powerful people working on her campaign. Realistically, however if Obama is able to also gain New Hampshire it’ll be hard to deny his momentum, especially if it is a substantial lead over Hillary. Then there’s the Edwards factor who may come in and be somewhat of a spoiler for Barack Obama. My guess is that he’s splitting the “change” vote somewhat.
Actually he leads NH by 10 points now:
http://politicalwire.com/archi.....shire.html
Tila Tequila has 12 times the amount of friends on MySpace than Barack does - does that equate that she has twelve-times the likelihood of winning the Presidency?
We all have rose-colored glasses, but Dean should’ve proved that the internet doesn’t exactly have the foothold that we all might like to think it has.
Obama is the next president.
Hate it or Love it, it’s time for a change, and Obama will bring it.
Obama has my vote! GObama!
http://www.givemebeats.com/
what the shit? michael “i’m almost the white web2.0 oprah” arrington, would you please stay away from political candidate endorsements? it’s offensive. unless you plan to document and compare every candidate equally, then just stay away from it…you’re setting yourself up for lots of crap…
Just because Osama… I meant Obama has social networking profiles everywhere I am very sure he doesn’t even know what MySpace or a Social Network is…
Why the heck is everyone adding his presidential candidate “friend” to his profile? It’s ridiculous. Obama and all the other candidates never go to MySpace, Facebook, …
They read books in the evenings and don’t check their Yahoo mailbox. Probably most of the candicates don’t even know how to reply to a mail.
What we really need for the Internet generation is someone who grew up with the Internet, who maybe already worked for an Internet company.
All the other people who are rarely on the internet (the ones who were on the internet probably used AOL) don’t know what they are talking about. They read what their writers wrote down.
They don’t know email, don’t know spam, not even know what a webbased application is.
Who was it? McCain, who was saying that he doesn’t even have a computer at work? At least ONE candidate who is not lying…
Arrington for President! ( count on me, Michael :-p )
I agree.
http://pagemailr.com/netlatch
Mike, 1 correction: Obama is way up in NH based off the most recent polls.
Rasmussen Reports (January 4)
Obama 37%
Clinton 27%
Edwards 19%
American Research Group (January 5)
Obama 38%
Clinton 26%
Edwards 20%
Concord Monitor (January 5)
Obama 34
Clinton 33
Edwards 23
CNN/WMUR Poll (January 4-5)
Clinton 33%
Obama 33%
Edwards 20%
For god’s sake, please vote Ron Paul. All of the other plastic candidates are probably rigged by the military industrial complex, oil, drug/pharma, insurance and banking. But this time’s selection seems funny… A black man, a women, a doctor. This is starting to look like the YMCA song (except for the women, but still).
Obama = change. Hillary = the establishment.
I just hope nobody takes a shot at Obama.
Ron Paul is far more popular on the internet…. Arrington’s liberal views speweth forth.
Marco, the “Osama” comment was probably the stupidest thing I have ever read on a blog, anywhere, at any time.
He has the power of positive influence and is a leader. He inspires with his words.
His experience clearly exceeds that of a Governor from Arkansas or Texas.
ROCK ON!!
BARACK OBAMA ALL THE WAY IN 2008!!
;))
He also has an Amazing presence on Flickr*
http://www.flickr.com/photos/barackobamadotcom/
Peace*
@ SAGE
Who’s not “ready” for a black or female candidate? What does that even mean? That any one who’s not a white male has to sit back and wait for bigoted white males and those who fawn over them to get over their skin color and gender hang-ups?
Thank God not everyone agrees with you or we’d never get anywhere as a country.
After George Bush’s 2 terms of failure — according to your skin-gender logic — a white male is the last thing any American should be comfortable seeing in office.
Frankly I like Edwards, Obama and had been a McCain fan long ago. Should John or Barak win the White House, I’ll look forward to better days.
Iowa is so unrepresentative of the rest of America as to make Obama’s win there…well..unrepresentative of America.
Sage
I believe the Koran states the the Mighty Eagle shall fall from within. What do you think that means? Obama for president, You have to be smoking something. He was raised by his radical Muslim stepfather, and you think that is better than a failed GWB. Get real! We need Ron Paul to put this country back on constitutional footing.
I’m warming to the guy.
I think we need to put he Internet into perspective versus the rest of the world. It is not all of the world and by no means is it the most important part of our society. The people who are over 45 aren’t idiots just because they did not “grow up” with the Internet and email. It takes more to run the world than knowing how to open email. By the way, some of us older farts are the one that actually built some of the infrastructure on which all of the current Internet is built.
Always though will smith would be the first black president but obama would do just as well.
Go Obama , Hopefully he will win and all those unimaginative dudes who first came up with the ( obama-osama crap ) will eat their own born.
—-
http://www.xenbet.com
#34 what I mean is that I believe in the minds of most of “middle America”, a female, and to a lesser extent, a black, in the White House just doesn’t cut it. Don’t ask me why because as I said, that’s not how I think. Yet, you won’t see nor read much about this because it is “politically incorrect”. Nobody’s going to say “I’m not going to vote a woman/black for president” but America as a whole simply isn’t that “advanced” when it comes to politics.
I personally want the democrats to win this election, and I fear that Clinton or Obama, despite I believe they would do a MUCH better job than what GWB has done (trust me, the issue is not with ME), will drive some very important votes away, being their gender/race a “quiet” issue. So.Cal? Perhaps you need to drive around Middle America and learn about the so-called “Middle American values”.
Adding to my last comment, perhaps it’s a godd thing to remember what the swing states usually are: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battleground_state
Most of them are what is considered “Middle America” and that’s where my concern starts. Hey, I might be wrong, all for the better. We’ll see…
Steel @ 36, point of correction:
Contrary to your statement, I believe the Koran does not include predictions of a mighty eagle falling from within, and certainly not specific statements regarding the US. Anyone who has read it will know that is a universal message for mankind from God and doesn’t really address the reader in these terms.
I am wishing all the Americans much luck, please do consider a taking wise decision, who to vote on, because more than other countries predsidents. US persidents have much more impact on the world population. Thanks
Techcrunch needs to stick to tech… not endorsing candidates.
I like a ot of what Ron Paul says, but there is one thing I can’t get past: he does not believe in evolution. Since he is a physician, and presumably, a man of science, I find it difficult to understand how he has room for any other explanation for human existence. I guess everyone has an Achilles heel.
Hopefully one day all men and women will live in true freedom from ancient superstitions and dogmas that lead to violence and divisiveness.
I want to congratulate Obama with this http://www.postalz.com/postcar.....6.postcard