From our ABCNews Blog:
John McCain’s decision to add Sarah Palin to the Republican ticket has resulted in unprecedented media coverage for the first female Republican VP nominee, but just how interested is the American public in the governor from Alaska?
Search-term volume is arguably the best way to measure curiosity about Sarah Palin (although it is more difficult to gauge the sentiment behind that curiosity). As the chart below indicates, Palin now claims the title of the most-searched-for political figure in the last three years.

As I pointed out in my TIME.com column this week, while there are search queries surrounding Palin’s stance on the issues, one of the most common themes of searches for Palin are requests for pictures (more specifically, “hot” pictures of the nominee).
Search term data provides an unprecedented insight into how we view current affairs and personalities in the news.
For more fascinating insights on search data and politics check out our new book, Click – What Millions of People Do Online and Why it Matters launched this week, go pick up a copy here, here or here.