I got my meathooks on some juicy new Yahoo! Buzz data showing voters’ searching trends nationally, in Pennsylvania, and in North Carolina. I discovered some surprises after lining it up with offline polling data.

As I’ve written before, I find this Buzz data fascinating (you can view daily trends here). While it doesn’t predict election results, it can correlate pretty closely with them. Also, checking in with the search trends of the American voters over time can offer insight into how particular events and issues (Rev. Wright, Obama’s race speech, Penn’s exit, etc.) affect the dynamic of the race.

That’s what this set of data is good for. To get a sense of how the web aligns with offline opinion and how it diverges from it, I compared Yahoo’s search trends to real-life polls I’ve used averages from Real Clear Politics, a site that has established itself as the ultimate in political data porn. For me anyway.

So let’s get to it (click the charts to see a larger version):

Nationwide

RCP Average: Obama +6.8

Nationally, both candidates enjoyed peaks and valleys in search trends as the primaries and caucuses came and went.

With a few exceptions, Obama has always had higher numbers than Clinton and McCain, and this remained true even in the immediate aftermath of the Rev. Wright controversy. What’s interesting is that around the time of Obama’s speech he enjoyed a spike akin to those during an election; national interest was spurred in the same way as if voters were going to the polls. Meanwhile Clinton stayed flat. At the moment Obama is seeing another upswing in online attention, which corresponds to his growing national lead in the polls.

Pennsylvania

RCP Average: Clinton +7.0

Pennsylvania voters’ attention has followed roughly the same pattern as national habits, though Clinton saw more attention than Obama on Super Tuesday, the March 4 primaries, and the Mississippi primary.

It’s also interesting that Obama saw a couple of steep dips following his race speech, so did Clinton; she’s remained below him since the MS primary. Obama is currently flatlining, though he enjoys a healthy lead over Clinton, contrasting Clinton’s seven-point advantage in the polls.

North Carolina

RCP Average: Obama +17.0

As with PA, North Carolina basically follows national trends, with a few key differences. Except for a brief moment before Super Tuesday, he was always on top of Clinton, but check out the day of the March 4 primaries — she suddenly overtook him. And look at that support during the race speech; his rhetoric was particularly appealing to the black voters that make up a sizable chunk of he NC electorate. He’s been seeing spikes down the line since then, which correspond to his wide lead over Clinton in the polls.

So what happened the day after the March 4 primaries? For the memory-challenged, Clinton, facing extinction if she failed to win Texas and Ohio, won both (though Obama was eventually awarded the most delegates). Perhaps voters were energized by her campaigns’ renewed strength and hit the web to find out more.