Paul Most Searched GOP Hopeful

Ron Paul registers in the single digits in most polls, but he's the top searched Republican presidential candidate on Google, according to the Web site's trend history.

A large volume of hits for Paul in the last 30 days are coming from Iowa, as voters there prepare to caucus Jan. 3. The same holds true for most of his rivals, with the exception of Mitt Romney and John McCain.

Disproportionally, more of Romney's searches in that span are coming from Utah, the seat of his Mormon faith. More of McCain's hits are disproportionally coming from New Hampshire, where he won the Republican presidential primary in 2000.

People sought more information about the contenders around news events.

Fred Thompson saw a spike in searches in early September, about the time the actor-politician announced his bid for the White House. He's now lower than he was in April. Romney saw an increase in the days surrounding his Dec. 6 speech on his faith.

Mike Huckabee has been surging in the polls and seeing an increase in the number of people searching for his name. While he's a far second behind Paul, he's just ahead of Romney.

McCain and Giuliani aren't searched as frequently, the site's search pattern shows.

___

On the Net:

http://www.google.com/trends