Wikipedia:Top 25 Report/Special Report: The 2016 U.S. Presidential Election
A Special Traffic Report: The U.S. Presidential Election[edit]
November 15, 2016
![](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/9/9a/Donald_Trump_%2829273256122%29_-_Cropped.jpg/220px-Donald_Trump_%2829273256122%29_-_Cropped.jpg)
From the time Donald Trump announced his candidacy for the U.S. presidency in June 2015, he became a regular part of the WP:TOP25 (Top 25 most viewed weekly articles on Wikipedia), and dominated the top levels of our reports for weeks at a time. Meanwhile, Hillary Clinton's popularity was much more soft -- the interest in her article could never compete with the antics and press coverage of Trump. It took a year after Trump rode down the escalator for Hillary Clinton to even appear in the Top 25 at all, in June 2016. She only appeared on the Top 25 ten times between June 2015 and the election, and led the Top 25 only once when she officially accepted her party nomination in late July 2016. Meanwhile, Trump was a ratings juggernaut -- he appeared on the Top 25 a whopping FIFTY-FIVE WEEKS during his campaign, and was in the Top 10 for 32 of those weeks. He was also #1 for nine weeks, including for four straight weeks in February-March 2016 when it became clear he was going to win the Republican nomination.
Of course views are an indication of interest, not support, and Wikipedia viewcounts reflect worldwide views, not just those of American voters. But Hillary Clinton failed to draw interest even close to that of Trump. And when her primary opponent Bernie Sanders was vigorously challenging her for the nomination, he regularly exceeded her viewcounts. In fact, Bernie appeared on the Top 25 chart for eleven weeks, one more than Hillary, despite having a far shorter candidacy.
One thing our charts have revealed over time is that topics that we may not think are very popular (because we do not personally like them), like wrestling and mixed martial arts, or comics, or particular Netflix shows, are in fact very popular. This popularity is certainly affected by the demographics of Wikipedia readers, but it is hard to discount Trump's immense popularity in Wikipedia viewcounts as meaningless.
The below chart chronicles the relative ranking and viewcounts of the Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton articles from June 2015 through the week of the election in November 2016. The notes column references relevant events during the campaign, and also comments on Bernie's performance during the peak of his run.
![](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/9/90/Article_Viewcounts_US_Presidential_Election_08-16.png/220px-Article_Viewcounts_US_Presidential_Election_08-16.png)
(This week's traffic report also includes some comparison of this year's recent views to those of the 2008 and 2012 election. For a more in-depth analysis of 2008 numbers, see User:Andrew Gray/Election statistics, which made amazing observations including that VP candidate Sarah Palin was more popular than her running mate John McCain.)
Notes on methodology: This chart covers the 75 weeks from June 7-13, 2015 through November 6-12, 2016. We chose the week before Donald Trump announced his candidacy as the starting point, since he ended up dominating traffic. Hillary Clinton appeared once on the Top 25 in the period before this analysis began; that was in April 2015 when she announced her candidacy. Rankings of 1-35 in the chart are true rankings and exclude extraneous articles affected by bots or other issues; any weekly ranking number above 35 reflects the article's raw ranking in the WP:5000. The relative ranking of an article is of course influenced by the popularity of other topics in any given week. An article might appear at #15 on the Top 25 one week with 500,000 views, and could be #25 or lower the next week with the same number of views, if other important events intervene to take up slots. Nevertheless, the ranking of an article may still say something about the relative popularity of a topic as compared to other topics vying for reader attention.
Please see WP:TOP25 for the weekly archives of our Top 25 Wikipedia traffic reports, which go back to January 2013.
Week Trump Views Clinton Views Image Notes June 7-13, 2015 2686 36,241 1180 57,011 The week before Trump announced his candidacy, his article was #2686 in the Raw WP:5000 for the week. Hillary Rodham Clinton, who last appeared on the Top 25 in April when she announced her candidacy, appeared at #1180 (raw). Her article was moved to Hillary Clinton this week on June 11, after a long and tortuous debate. The Top 25 this week, however,was led by the death of actor Christopher Lee. June 14-20, 2015 16 626,629 397 90,946 Trump announced his candidacy by descending the escalator at Trump Tower, and immediately appeared in the Top 25. Hillary Clinton was #397 on the raw WP:5000 that week. In fact, Hillary would not make into the Top 25 for the entire next year, only showing up in June 2016 when she clinches the nomination. June 21-27, 2015 60 255,019 810 60,972 Trump dropped off Top 25. The most viewed article was Flags of the Confederate States of America, as a result of the Charleston church shooting. June 28-July 4, 2015 14 434,208 824 66,772 We noted Trump was "currently top in the Republican polls" July 5-11, 2015 33 338,617 765 71,942 Politics took a back seat to tennis and American women's soccer this week. July 12-18, 2015 33 423,225 992 63,770 No politics; Suicide Squad at #1. July 19-25, 2015 5 661,692 767 69,188 We noted that Trump's "improbable rise" was continuing, and that nothing, including insulting John McCain's war record, seemed to affect his numbers. July 26-Aug 1, 2015 17 357,639 802 57,566 This week we noted Trump had called a female lawyer "disgusting" for breastfeeding in public. August 2-8, 2015 10 614,810 315 103,841 The first major Republican primary debate was on August 6. But we predicted "He won't be the nominee.... Many Americans are simply watching Trump 'for the lulz'." August 9-15, 2016 8 601,785 301 107,654 The week of Trump saying "blood coming out of her wherever" about FOX presenter Megyn Kelly. Bernie Sanders (#15, 510,272) makes a strong showing and appears on the Top 25 for the first time. August 16-22, 2015 9 657,675 301 106,344 FOX came to Megyn Kelly's support this week, and Trump held a large rally in Alabama. August 23-29, 2015 6 728,358 368 96,650 The feud with FOX did not seem to be harming Trump. Trump continued by feuding with Univision reporter Jorge Ramos (pictured), slamming Jeb Bush, and sometimes tweeting insults at 3am. August 30-September 5, 2015 15 488,477 550 79,832 Trump signed the "pledge" this week that he would not run as an independent if he did not win the party nomination. September 6-12, 2015 25 390,147 489 87,820 Trump continues a long run in the Top 25. Was Team Clinton noticing this? Hillary Clinton presidential campaign, 2016 was #20 on our raw data, but with only 0.79% mobile views, we excluded from the Top 25 because of artificially inflated views. September 13-19, 2015 5 688,313 322 109,373 Trump rises again in the numbers after another Republican debate. September 20-26, 2015 18 401,070 581 83,320 Hillary Clinton presidential campaign, 2016 appears at raw #18 in our data, but is again excluded with a 0.73% mobile count. September 27-October 3, 2015 22 332,628 616 75,747 We said of Trump: "A fairly quiet week for The Donald saw him only insult Syrian refugees. And Hispanics. And the victims of the Umpqua Community College shooting." October 4-10, 2015 47 249,219 445 92,516 Trump drops off the Top 25. American Horror Story: Hotel is #1 this week. October 11-17, 2015 62 263,041 92 206,742 Trump and Clinton were of little interest this week, but Bernie Sanders (#3, 728,853) makes a strong showing after a strong debate performance. October 18-24, 2015 81 219,182 140 167,552 The first week Hillary is relatively close to Trump, with about a 52K view differential. October 25-31, 2015 40 305,565 242 123,247 Ben Carson (#11, 447,916) gains attention after another debate. November 1-7, 2015 83 217,373 440 93,997 Ben Carson (#7, 584,606) continued to gain attention, leading to negative stories including about whether he misrepresented receiving a West Point scholarship in his autobiography. The sort of most normal scandals that typically doom a candidate, but which don't seem to affect Trump. November 8-14, 2015 49 293,569 548 84,595 Ben Carson (#13, 393,998) continues his ride of popularity. November 15-21, 2015 60 303,402 417 101,314 No American politicians this week, though the campaigns' nemesis ISIS is #2. November 22-28, 2015 65 288,853 1149 60,185 Hillary not even in the Top 1000. When Hillary falls into the mid-hundreds or lower, her spouse Bill Clinton often beats her in views. This week, for example, Bill was #565 with 87,490 views. Jessica Jones was #1 for this week. November 29-December 5, 2015 66 281,125 1091 62,267 No politics. Scott Weiland's death is #1. December 6-12, 2015 1 914,072 594 87,214 Trump hits #1 for the first time, after numerous comments cause the descriptor "fascist" to be used in the media. December 13-19, 2015 10 720,311 585 87,723 Another Republican presidential debate on December 15 has Trump at center stage. Bernie Sanders was #217 (152,016). December 20-26, 2015 45 465,532 359 117,725 Bernie Sanders #108 (234,774). The Top 25 is dominated by Star Wars related articles. December 27, 2015-January 2, 2016 53 338,079 718 83,682 Bernie Sanders #328 (121,182). Another Star Wars heavy week. January 3-9, 2016 24 415,237 581 93,893 Trump back on Top 25 after a two-week break. Bernie Sanders #227 (145,976) January 10-16, 2016 31 506,603 375 126,454 Bernie Sanders #89 (296,767). David Bowie's death tops list with 11.7 million views. January 17-23, 2016 16 554,467 188 175,205 Trump is beaten on the chart for second time by Bernie Sanders (#14, 577,700). We noted he was doing well in the polls against Hillary Clinton despite being a rather unlikely top candidate. January 24-30, 2016 12 666,806 214 161,587 Bernie Sanders (#17, 552,517). The Iowa caucuses were approaching on February 1. January 31-February 6, 2016 1 3,083,806 60 329,954 Trump takes 2nd in the Republican Iowa caucus, but gets almost three times the views of the winner, Ted Cruz (#5) (1,051,037). Bernie Sanders (#4, 1,116,291) barely loses the Democratic Iowa contest to Hillary -- but more than triples her views. Hillary Clinton has still not appeared in the Top 25 to this point. February 7-13, 2016 4 1,504,756 86 285,271 Trump wins the Republican New Hampshire primary. Bernie Sanders (#9, 1,272,272) wins the Democratic contest. Again, Hillary not even in the Top 25, and Sanders more than quadruples her views. February 14-20, 2016 7 998,114 165 198,068 Trump wins the Republican South Carolina primary despite continuing to say outrageous things. Bernie Sanders (#19, 584,875) loses that one to Clinton, but continues to get more views than her. February 21-27, 2016 1 1,938,436 95 234,526 We observed what we thought very unlikely only months earlier: "Donald Trump is going to be the Republican nominee in this year's United States presidential election, barring something crazy happening." Bernie Sanders (#18, 493,031). February 28-March 5, 2016 1 8,238,809 59 378,292 Massive views for Trump after winning nine more states in a week, including many of the Super Tuesday primaries. Melania Trump (#18, 696,659) appears in the Top 25 for the first time. Bernie Sanders (#28, 526,451). Trump is exceeding Clinton's views by over 20-times this week. March 6-12, 2016 1 8,257,174 58 339,194 We titled the traffic report this week Donald Trump, the 45th President of the United States. Hmmm. Don't say we didn't warn you. Trump continued to win primaries, racks up over 8 million views for the second week in a row. Tawdry press coverage of Trump includes story of a 78-year-old man who sucker-punched a protester at a Trump rally, and Trump offered to pay any resulting legal fees. The Michelle Fields-Corey Lewandowski incident also takes up news time. Bernie Sanders (#22, 577,849) March 13-19, 2016 1 2,412,293 38 330,364 Trump at #1 for fourth straight week. Bernie Sanders (#17, 577,849). We note that Bernie is consistently beating Hillary in Wikipedia traffic. March 20-26 2016 2 1,480,800 108 194,251 Trump insults Heidi Cruz as being unattractive this week, and Cruz calls Trump a "snivelling coward." Bernie Sanders is off the Top 25, at #62 (267,113), still ahead of Hillary. March 27-April 2, 2016 3 1,222,793 122 194,261 Bernie #29 (344,766) April 3-9, 2016 4 1,021,206 119 217,774 Bernie #27 (373,365) April 10-16, 2016 6 762,586 89 201,895 Bernie Sanders (#22, 388,018). April 17-23, 2016 14 720,442 69 247,453 Prince (musician) dies and becomes most viewed article (13,064,933) since Top 25 began in January 2013. Trump the only candidate in the Top 25. Bernie Sanders (#47, 300,246). April 24-30, 2016 12 685,354 127 178,036 Trump is up to 77% of delegates needed to mathematically guarantee the Republican nomination. Bernie Sanders (#134, 173,289) May 1-7, 2016 3 992,406 79 243,195 Trump's last two party opponents, Ted Cruz and John Kasich, drop out. Bernie Sanders (#112, 203,785). May 8-14, 2016 4 633,258 117 190,494 Bernie Sanders (#144, 167,499). May 15-21, 2016 8 568,970 126 171,310 We noted this week: "Donald Trump seems to have permanently set up camp in the Top 10. If he gets elected, he might be a permanent number one." Bernie Sanders (#144, 163,816). May 22-28, 2016 14 440,280 135 167,826 Bernie Sanders (#144, 163,957). May 29 to June 4, 2016 18 418,524 175 149,277 Bernie Sanders (#179, 147,417). June 5-11, 2016 18 526,676 19 482,075 Hillary Clinton's first appearance in the Top 25 -- on the occasion of her finally clinching the Democratic nomination, mathematically. Meanwhile, Trump says the judge in the Trump University lawsuit cannot be fair due to his Mexican heritage, and still beats Hillary by one slot. Bernie Sanders (#72, 260,976). June 12-18, 2016 18 627,262 87 245,811 Tired of tracking every new story, of Trump we write "Mr. Trump said controversial things this week." Meanwhile, Hillary drops far out of the Top 25 after her first appearance. June 19-25, 2016 27 519,435 141 178,411 For the first time in months, Trump is not in the Top 25, just barely. The June 23 Brexit vote is a popular topic on the chart. June 26-July 2, 2016 35 403,068 156 167,689 Some British politics, no American politics, and UEFA Euro 2016 is #1 for second week. July 3-9, 2016 22 435,864 96 223,365 Trump tweets a picture of Hillary Clinton with a six-pointed star; the campaign later claims it was a sheriff's star, though the image originated from a neo-Nazi internet forum. July 10-16, 2016 23 422,223 124 180,439 Trump picks Mike Pence (#3) as his running mate. July 17-23, 2016 2 2,796,617 46 368,084 Trump is bested by wife Melania Trump (#1), as it is found that passages of her convention speech were plagiarized from Michelle Obama's 2008 convention speech. Tim Kaine (#5) is selected as Clinton's running mate, but that doesn't put Hillary back into the Top 25. July 24-30, 2016 4 1,022,010 1 1,331,698 Due to the Democratic National Convention, Hillary beats Trump for the first time on the Top 25. But Trump suggests that the Russians should hack Hillary's email to remain in the limelight. July 31-August 6, 2016 5 806,195 45 358,286 The Olympics Opening Ceremony came on August 5, but Trump stayed popular for another week. August 7-13, 2016 47 449,872 158 205,941 The Olympics dominates news coverage, Michael Phelps is #1. August 14-20, 2016 58 392,675 204 162,076 The Olympics continues to dominate news coverage, Usain Bolt is #1. August 21-27, 2016 12 572,600 128 175,587 A head-fake about a softening on Trump's stance on immigration was in the news this week. Meanwhile, Hillary is not even in the Top 100. August 28-September 3, 2016 15 526,664 128 172,160 Clinton aide Huma Abedin (#14, 526,901) beats Trump by one position, after another texting scandal by her husband Anthony Weiner causes her to leave him. September 4-10, 2016 14 446,865 113 197,617 Finding no particular controversy this week around Trump, we conclude "he's just... popular." September 11-17, 2016 7 688,121 20 455,324 Trump dumps birtherism nonchalantly on September 16 and blames Hillary Clinton for creating it. Hillary re-appears in the Top 25 for the first time since July. September 18-24, 2016 14 441,855 79 230,732 Hillary tumbles far out of the Top 25 again. September 25-October 1, 2016 2 1,201,566 5 753,800 The first presidential debate was held on September 26. Hillary won the post-debate polls, but Trump beat her on Wikipedia again. October 2-8, 2016 4 972,408 19 753,800 The infamous audio tape of Trump talking to Billy Bush (#14 this week) emerges. Mike Pence is #15 (545,091), ahead of Hillary, due to the vice-presidential debate. Tim Kaine is #25 (394,598). October 9-15, 2016 1 1,951,789 3 1,009,711 The second presidential debate occurred on October 9. October 16-22, 2016 1 2,140,830 6 650,343 The third presidential debate fell on October 19; Trump refuses to say during the debate if he'll accept the outcome if he loses. October 23-29, 2016 3 898,740 18 551,295 Clinton continues to receive less attention than Trump. October 30-November 5, 2016 7 949,709 18 580,309 We note of Clinton: "She really needs to start saying some crazy stuff if she wants to win the Wikipedia ratings wars." But maybe it wasn't only about who was saying crazy stuff. November 6-12, 2016 1 12,331,880 6 2,644,676 In the early morning of November 9 in the United States, Donald Trump is declared the winner of the U.S. presidential election. Though it is clear he will lose the popular vote nationwide, it is also clear he is going to win the battleground states of Florida, Ohio, Pennsylvania, and even Michigan and Wisconsin, which had not been thought to be in serious jeopardy by most pollsters. By 3am, after a phone call from Clinton to concede, Trump speaks to supporters to declare victory.