Conservative Blogs Doing Better Under Obama

Blogger Simon Owens is tracking the traffic of the 20 largest liberal and conservative blogs to see how they've fared since the election. The blogs have collectively dropped 109 million unique visitors from October 2008 to May 2009:

Right of center blogs weathered the post-election season a little better, falling only 37%, while blogs that were left-of-center fell by 64%.

Some blogs did better than others. Instapundit, for instance, was the only blog to show a slight increase in page views between the two months. Hot Air and Ann Althouse also saw a much less significant drop compared to all other blogs. Out of all the blogs surveyed, MyDD saw the most significant drop, with a decrease of 80% in pageviews.

There's always a slump after a presidential election as people who have been consumed with politics rediscover the rest of their lives, but Owens has found a dramatic difference in how liberal and conservative blogs have fared since the election. Partisan media tends to do better when its side is out of power, because that fuels more activism and passion than being in charge. Readership of The Nation doubled after the election of President Bush in 2000.

The Drudge Retort has dropped from 2.8 million unique visitors last October to 1.8 million last month. I was surprised to learn that the Retort has lost less of its audience than any other liberal blog tracked by Owens. The Retort's 36% drop is close to the average drop of conservative blogs.

I'm not sure why the Retort has suffered less of a post-election slump than Daily Kos, Washington Monthly and other liberal-leaning sites. One possible reason is that the Retort actively encourages conservatives and libertarians to contribute dissenting views, so some of those folks have stuck around to express opposition to President Obama and the Democratic-led Congress. I get bored with echo chambers, so I've tried to cultivate a more ideologically diverse audience than most political blogs.

Politics · Blogging · Analytics · 2009/06/14 · 4 COMMENTS · Link

Comments

I get bored with echo chambers,

So does Spud.

Sure they're fun at first.

HALLOO ...halloo ...halloo ...and so forth.

Singing accappella Gregorian chant versions of the Police's "Roxanne" can be a giggle too.

After that the whole echoey thing kinda pales.

Sorry, you were saying?

...so I've tried to cultivate a more ideologically diverse audience than most political blogs.

"Diverse" would be a good way to describe the Tort.

Much kinder than "Deranged", fer instance.

While it is kinda depressing to discover a lot of the Obamaniacs are now somehow convinced that their job of participating in the national political debate is over it's also a perfectly understandable part of the macro trend that Simon Owen's tracks here.

The Reps, after six year of virtual monolithic rule and two years of a mostly rubber stamp congress are now out of power.

Ergo funnelling all their butt-hurt, impotent rage into blogs after the results of the last election is a natural step to take.

Arrogant when in power and obstructionist when out that's the GOP way.

In the main, Spud finds that the right wing blogs tend to be filled with parrots reiterating wotever insane argument/talking point du jour they've discovered that day through right wing radio or Fox.

Anyhoo, thanx to Rogers fer putting together a political discussion site who's denizens represent not only all the colors of the political spectrum in the US but which is also peopled by a few furrener types who offer a less US-centric perspective on the American political scene.

/Not naming any names.

Be Well.

#1 · dethspud · 2009/06/14

Funny that most liberals paint Bush as a conservative, but it was an effective strategy after all. Today's Republicanism is not republicanism at all. And, notwithstanding the fewest of picks, the same is true for the Democrats; most have shown their feathers recently and they are not democratic.
To keep up SovereignSlave tries to find the best measuring sticks and stick to 'em. Drudge is one of those "sticks."

#2 · Bruce Hedrick · 2009/06/14

Funny that most liberals paint Bush as a conservative

Almost as funny as conservatives who call Obama a Liberal.

Not nearly as funny as the rtards who call Obama a socialist or communist though.

That kinda hystericallness is in a league of it's own.

While both parties may diverge on various social wedge issues at the end of the day both parties make up the two faces of the coin that is American Corporate duopoly. The one that likes to pass itself off as a functioning representative democracy.

Be Well.

#3 · dethspud · 2009/06/14

Hi,
I was looking to boost traffic to my site, and I was wondering if you would be willing to link to my website at www.dirtyliberal.com? In exchange I would link to your site, and maybe give you some free bumper sticker off my site?
Let me know if you are interested.
Thanks!

#4 · Allen · 2009/08/17