--- title: Super Tuesday: Search Engine Bing Will Predict the Races description: Bing would like to be a hub for voters in the 2016 presidential election—and they've got predictions for the 2016 presidential race. canonical: https://time.com/4241806/bing-microsoft-super-tuesday-predictions/ author: Daniel White article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2016-03-01T19:04:17.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-08-19T07:42:18.900Z article:section: Politics og:title: This Search Engine Is Surprisingly Good at Predicting Elections og:description: From the Oscars to Super Tuesday. og:url: https://time.com/4241806/bing-microsoft-super-tuesday-predictions/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt3bb3a2b0ec15edfb/69887f53a988ca0ee46b6c36/160226_em_supertuesday.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 2100 og:image:height: 1181 og:image:alt: 160226_EM_SuperTuesday og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: This Search Engine Is Surprisingly Good at Predicting Elections twitter:description: From the Oscars to Super Tuesday. twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt3bb3a2b0ec15edfb/69887f53a988ca0ee46b6c36/160226_em_supertuesday.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # This Search Engine Is Surprisingly Good at Predicting Elections > Sponsored content. 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It explains the politics, personalities and power dynamics behind the headlines, twice a week. #### Where can I get analysis of Washington politics by email? D.C. Brief is TIME's free Washington politics newsletter, available at time.com/newsletters. It is written by a TIME senior correspondent who covers the capital full time. #### Who writes TIME's D.C. Brief? Philip Elliott, a senior correspondent at TIME, writes D.C. Brief. #### Is D.C. Brief free? Yes. D.C. Brief is free at time.com/newsletters. ### Sources * TIME Newsletters: [time.com/newsletters](/c/time-nl-dcbrief-2026q3/newsletters?i=175c6a30-d276-4620-83b3-61c0e8be79ef&cr=time-nl-dcbrief-2026q3-v1) ## Video: Watch Marco Rubio Sharpen His Attacks on Donald Trump [Watch (HLS stream): Watch Marco Rubio Sharpen His Attacks on Donald Trump](https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/R6bgCTi6.m3u8) (1:44)  _Published 2016-02-29. After a relatively genial start, Marco Rubio's attacks against Donald Trump have sharpened, just ahead of Super Tuesday._ by [Daniel White](https://time.com/author/daniel-white/) ## Daniel White Mar 1, 2016 7:04 PM UTC  Getty Images (5) by [Daniel White](https://time.com/author/daniel-white/) ## Daniel White Mar 1, 2016 7:04 PM UTC When it comes to online searches, Bing is a distant second to Google. But on Election Night, Microsoft’s search engine is the one to watch. Bing has been making accurate predictions for a couple of years now, ([Bing correctly picked Leonardo DiCaprio to win an Oscar](http://bgr.com/2016/02/26/oscars-2016-winners-predictions-bing/)) but only first tried predicting American elections with the 2014 midterms, in which [it did better predicting than the pundits.](https://blogs.bing.com/blog/2014/11/10/bing-gets-an-a-in-election-prediction-accuracy/) Now it’s ready to stake a claim on [predicting the Super Tuesday results](https://blogs.bing.com/search/2016/02/29/ride-search-wave-into-election-data-and-see-super-tuesday-bing-predictions/). The company has been moving beyond being just being a search engine for some time now, says Bing’s general manager of search Ryan Gavin, by providing users an immersive experience around big moments like the Oscars, the Super Bowl, _American Idol_ finals or the 2016 elections. On politics, the search engine now runs the [Bing Elections Experience](http://www.bing.com/search?q=Election+2016), which offers information about each candidates platform when you search for them, the volume of public search interest in candidates, a timeline of the race and the [all-important primary predictions](http://time.com/4229252/google-twitter-presidential-elections-predictions-analysis/). **Read More:** [_What Google and Twitter Can Tell Us About 2016_](http://time.com/4229252/google-twitter-presidential-elections-predictions-analysis/) At the end of the day the average user needs to feel confident that Bing can offer them the best results, says Gavin, who hopes that by building a track record of accurate predictions on top of the search engine Bing can empower users by keeping them informed. “\[Users\] want to have some confidence coming in and to be participants in the larger discussion,” he told TIME. “So whether you’re talking about the Academy Awards or the election, people having that little nugget to say ‘did you know Donald Trump is going to win 10/11 primaries’ and be able to walk into the cocktail party or their office with that little nugget provides a level of confidence for them to participate in that conversation.” This week Bing rolled out two new features: a new round of predictions for the [11 states voting on Super Tuesday](http://time.com/4242289/super-tuesday-donald-trump-hillary-clinton-voters-states-primaries/) and Search Wave, which much like Google Trends offers a breakdown of search interest in candidates. One secret to Bing’s success is that its model combines poll data, prediction markets, social media posts and search data, rather than relying on one dataset, like some of its competitors. That’s because the company thinks data can be misleading—after all, not everyone searching for “Donald Trump” is a fan. “Elections are a little more like _American Idol_ than they are the Super Bowl,” said Bing data scientist Walter Sun. On Super Tuesday Bing is predicting big wins for front-runners Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump in their respective contests. Bing picked Clinton to win all contests except Vermont—Sen. Bernie Sanders’ home state—and Trump to win all contests except Texas—where he may make some last minute gains on Sen. Ted Cruz, who is [looking to come away with a victory at home](http://time.com/4241175/ted-cruz-oil-gas-texas/). So far Bing has gotten seven of eight of its primary predictions right, only getting Cruz’s victory in the notoriously tricky Iowa caucuses wrong. However accurate their predictions turn out to be after Super Tuesday, Gavin says Bing hopes that users will learn something. “Our predictions capability isn’t just a neat parlor trick using big data, but we really feel it’s about empowering our customers,” he said. ## Transcript He doesn't sweat cuz his pores are clogged from the spray tan that he uses. Donald is not gonna make America great, he's gonna make America orange. [ MUSIC ] When on the campaign, he has not proven an understanding of these issues or the preparation necessary to be the Commander in Chief. Well, obviously I don't agree with everything he says but we can't ignore that he's touched on some issues that people are concerned about. I like everybody on this stage. No one is a socialist. No one here is under FBI investigation. So we are a good group of people. To begin by being clear what this campaign is about, it's not about Donald Trump. He's an entertaining guy. He's the greatest show on Earth. We disagree on that. [ MUSIC ] That okay? Yeah. And Donald's absolutely right. China does have a lot of influence over North Korea. You don't have a record there to look at and say I feel at peace. That when Donald Trump is president of the United States, he's gonna be firmly on our side on these issues. If he builds the wall the way he built Trump Towers, he'll be using illegal immigrant labor to do it. I don't understand cuz your ties and the clothes you make is made in Mexico and in China. So you're gonna be starting a trade war against your own ties and your own suit. [ APPLAUSE ] If he hadn't inherited $ 200 million, do you know where Donald Trump would be right now? No, no, no, no. Selling watches in Manhattan. I borrowed- A con artist is about to take over the Republican party and the conservative movement. We are not gonna turn over the conservative movement To a con artist. Then he asked for a full length mirror. I don't know why because the podium goes up to here. Maybe to make sure his pants weren't wet, I don't know. You don't want to criticize other republicans, you said that over and over again but was it the strategy to wait till the last minute so it's fresh in the minds of voters on Tuesday? No, that was when the debate is. And number two, as he reminds everybody over and over he's doing well in the polls. So I admit I'm an underdog. I ask people to join my effort so we can put a stop to this lunacy. 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