Post-Presidential debate special: Five Trends We Saw

Tuesday, September 10, 2024 - 8.30pm PST

Welcome to tonight’s post-debate special newsletter. For more insights and data storytelling on how the world is searching, follow us on Twitter @GoogleTrends and Instagram @googletrends. All data is correct at the time of writing. More election trends here: goo.gle/USelectiontrends24. The next Trends newsletter will be out on Thursday morning

Simon Rogers

Data editor, Google

With Daniel Doebrich and Katie Seaton 

Top Trends

All insights are for the US during the time of the debate

• “what is a tariff” was the top trending “what” in the first fifteen minutes of the debate and “who pays tariffs on imports” was a breakout search

• “pro life vs pro choice” increased +700% during the debate

• “harris small business plan” and “small business tax credits” are top trending searches with “small business”

• Search interest in Springfield, OH reached an all time high and Aurora, CO reached a 12 year high

• “why is fracking controversial” is the top trending “why” in the first hour of the debate “why is ivf controversial” became a breakout search

• “how many people died in 1917” was the top trending “how many”, and Spanish flu became a breakout search

• “trump on ivf” was the top searched “trump on…” and “harris on fracking” was the top searched “harris on…”

• “camp david” became a breakout search and was the top trending location searched, and “where is camp david” was the top trending “where is”

• “how much is obamacare” is a top trending search with affordable care act

How the issues were searched during the debate

1. This is how the country searched, before and during the debate

BEFORE:

AFTER:

Based on a list of top issues used by the Associated Press in this interactive election issues guide

2. The top U.S. two metropolitan areas searching the debate were in Montana and Vermont

Top US metro areas searching for the debate during broadcast

1. Glendive MT

2. Burlington VT-Plattsburgh NY

3. Charlottesville VA

4. Portland-Auburn ME

5. Bangor ME

6. Philadelphia PA

7. Boston MA-Manchester NH

8. Madison WI

9. Denver CO

10. Bend OR

3. Abortion was the top searched issue during the debate

Top 10 issues searched during the debate, US

1. Abortion

2. Immigration

3. Crime

4. Tariffs

5. Economy

6. Voter registration

7. Inflation

8. IVF

9. Russo-Ukrainian War

10. Health Care

Based on a list of top issues used by the Associated Press in this interactive election issues guide

4. Canada was the top place searching for the debate, outside the US

Top regions searching during the debate, excluding the US

1. Canada

2. Netherlands

3. Puerto Rico

4. New Zealand

5. Australia

6. United Kingdom

7. Singapore

8. Germany

9. Hong Kong

10. France

5.  Vermont was the top State searching for fact checks 

Top US States searching for fact checking during broadcast

1. Vermont

2. Maine

3. Minnesota

4. Wisconsin

5. New Hampshire

6. District of Columbia

7. Massachusetts

8. Rhode Island

9. Colorado

10. Pennsylvania

Check out our Election Trends site >>

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trendsdatateam@google.com

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• Breakout: search terms had a tremendous increase, in some cases  because these terms are new and had few (if any) prior searches

• Top or Most Searched: search terms that rank highest by search volume for a given timeframe and location

• Trending Searches: search terms that had the highest spike in traffic over a given time period as compared with the previous equivalent period 

• For more information about our methodology and how to interpret the data, please read our FAQs and learn more here