Obama has held a commanding lead thanks to his four years in office and strong social media presence; his campaign was the first political campaign to realize the potential of social media in an election, as determined in 2008 by the SIPP Index when it was able to predict his victory over John McCain more than a month ahead of the election.

Mitt Romney, however, has seen steady growth in his market share, gaining ten points in just under two months, eclipsing 30 percent last week.

With popular polls showing a deadlock between the candidates, as well as the SIPP Index showing Romney's steady gains online, it is too early to predict a winner at this time. Wednesday's debate will be a great indicator as to which candidate is more engaged online, and could have a serious impact on their scores going into the second debate later this month.

About the SIPP Index

Spartan Internet has leveraged its web expertise to objectively develop the SIPP Index to quantify 650 relevant factors into a single representative score for each candidate's overall internet market share out of 100%. The 650 factors are derived from numeric values from across the Internet such as social networks, candidate websites, and blogs, news media and search engines. The resulting score is indicative of each candidates overall online ability to reach individuals and connect on key issues.

About Spartan Internet:

Spartan Internet Consulting is a leading Internet marketing strategy firm and strategic internet planning and implementation services provider based in Lansing, Michigan. We service global clients, as well as small businesses with SEO and paid search marketing. Spartan Internet has more than 30 specialists on staff with offices in Lansing, metro Detroit, Fort Lauderdale, and Washington DC.