How the presidential election is affecting internet search
The morning of 9 November 2016 was the morning the world woke up to the news that Donald J Trump will be the next President of the United States of America.
A lot of people – but not all of them – were surprised that someone with no Government experience (as well as overwhelming evidence that he’s a racist, womanising, tax-dodging misogynist) will now be the leader of the most powerful country on earth.
Many Americans stayed up through the night to learn the fate of their country. Those who were not happy with the result turned to Google to try and look for answers, comfort or just to vent. Here are some search trends of what the US population have been searching for in the last 24 hours, as the results were being revealed in the early hours of the morning.
(It’s worth noting that these graphs do not show volume, but trends. It simply means more people were searching for those types of terms at that time).
Emmigration and citizenship
As with Brexit, many people were looking to leave the country in the wake of the final result. It also left people looking for ways to renounce their citizenship.
War
There were clear spikes in war related terms, as it was revealed that Trump would be in charge of America.
Social issues
Stories of racism and sexism from Donald Trump seemed to be of interest in the early hours of the morning.
Feelings
A clear trend of disappointment and frustration was seen increasing through the early morning. Equally, as Donald Trump was announced winner, there was a clear spike in the term ‘elated’ later in the morning amongst his supporters.
Extreme solutions
Some Americans started searching for extreme ways to change the next president.
Paul Hunter is marketing manager at digital marketing agency Liberty.
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