Brand Obama Challenged by Obamacare Supreme Court Review

Brand Obama is facing a significant challenge today as so-called Obamacare (the sweeping healthcare reform law that was introduced on March 2010) goes before the Supreme Court (ABC News is live-blogging). It's a bit of a setback as the president is also actively campaigning for re-election in November.

The Obama Campaign’s social call-to-action documentary The Road We've Traveled, available on the President’s new YouTube platform, is the jewel in the crown of the President’s social media persona.

Directed by the Academy Award winning director of An Incovenient Truth, Davis Guggenheim, it's narrated by Tom Hanks and has racked up almost 2 million views since it debuted on March 15th.

Anyone who visits the YouTube page has one-click options to share the content and/or pledge support. Borrowing from one-stop-shopping techniques refined by online merchants Amazon and Fresh Direct, repeat donors need submit credit card information only once and the info is saved.

“The importance of video is so new for campaigns, even relative to ’08,” commented Teddy Goff, the Obama campaign’s digital director, to the New York Times. “Now it’s in some ways the primary way our digital operation communicates with supporters. And increasingly it will be the primary way we communicate with undecided voters.”

Mitt Romney’s campaign is also using You Tube as a platform for video engagement and donation and refreshing the content bi-weekly. “It’s the ability to get your message out quickly that makes all the difference,” said Zac Moffatt, the Romney campaign’s digital director in the Times.  “And that’s really where I think YouTube has found a niche in politics.” 

Nielsen last week released a study looking at how the 2012 presidential race is playing out on the candidates' websites so fair. Nielsen's snapshot:

Barack Obama

• Obama is leading for unique visitors: During January 2012, more American adults visited President Obama’s site than the four Republican candidates’ sites combined/

• Leading for 50+ visitors: More than half (52%) of President Obama’s visitors are over the age of 50, and those aged 50-64 are the most concentrated on his site.

Rick Santorum

• Leading for women, who made up over 60% of the audience to RickSantorum.com, the largest male/female split among the candidates.

Mitt Romney

• Romney is leading for Hispanic visitors. Hispanics made up 17% of the audience to MittRomney.com, 37% more Hispanics than were active online during January 2012 (12%).

Ron Paul

• Leading for male visitros. Only Ron Paul and Newt Gingrich’s sites drew more men than women (56% and 51%, respectively), but RonPaul2012.com wins this demo by 4.3 percentage points.

• Paul also leads for visitors aged 18-34. Even though he's the oldest of the 2012 presidential candidates, he has the youngest website visitors—over a third are 18-34.

Newt Gingrich

• Gingrich’s audience is the most affluent and educated, as 27% make over $100K and half have a Bachelor’s or Post-Grad degree.