With two weeks remaining before Election Day, the 2016 presidential candidates divide and conquer, racing to battleground states to give their best shot at securing undecided votes. There is no denying that the 2016 election cycle has been one for the books—from astoundingly high numbers of television viewers that tuned in to watch the presidential debates, to the massive flux of voters heading to the polls early this year—new records have been established across the board.
In a recent Internet Retailer article, Election E-commerce, we discovered how online retailers have used the 2016 election cycle to leverage merchandise. With battleground states top-of-mind as Election Day approaches, we have created an interesting poll of our own to track and analyze LinkConnector customers’ affiliate marketing revenue in each state.
Ladies and gentlemen, meet the top two candidates:
- LC Affiliates
- LC Merchants
Over the next two weeks, we will be keeping a close eye on the revenue generated by LinkConnector merchants and affiliates, and what may be contributing to various spikes and drop offs in their numbers. Each Tuesday between now and the 8th of November, we will refresh our affiliate marketing electoral map with cumulative revenue data in the four weeks leading up to Election Day. The current map represents online revenue generated by LinkConnector merchants and affiliates between 10/10/16 and 10/23/16—the first two weeks. Revenue numbers determine a winner for each state and the state’s electoral votes are assigned to the appropriate candidate.
As you can see in the map above, neither party has secured the 270 electoral votes needed to win the election. Affiliates lead with 216 electoral votes over Merchants with 200 electoral votes. With two weeks remaining until Election Day, 122 electoral votes remain unclaimed in states that are still too close to call—this includes some key battleground states such as Illinois (20), North Carolina (15), New Jersey (14) and Virginia (13). The race is still too close to call at this point. Stay tuned for more updates as Decision 2016 nears!
Notable Party Contributions:
- Florida, a pivotal state in the election with 29 electoral votes, is leaning toward an LC merchant win. This slight lean could gain momentum in the coming weeks due to a few strong LC merchants entering into high traffic seasons. Morris 4×4 Center, IRONMAN and TriVillage are a few members of the merchant party that could contribute to a stronger merchant lead.
- One of the largest locks is Texas and its 38 electoral votes going to LC affiliates led by one of the industry’s leading Search Affiliates—TriMax Media. Will the rush to purchase Election Day banners from LC Merchant, BuildASign, be enough to turn this state green?