The 2016 Presidential Election was unique in many ways for American
voters. The larger than life candidates drove passion (and furor) from both
sides of the aisle. Social media allowed voters to share their news stories (whether
real or fake), easily and frequently. Television viewership on the night of the
election broke records. Websites like CNN, Politico and Fox News saw
significant increases in unique visitors. The election night results on
freep.com alone surpassed 1M page views. Even the New York Times saw an
increase in paid digital and print
subscribers.
Another resource voters turned to during the election was
search. Analyzing search data can help bring to light how voters felt about
issues, candidates and the American election process.
Google Trends has undertaken the daunting task of compiling
the search data from the election in its “Elections in Search 2016” interactive
website. Some interesting insights:
Searches for Donald Trump peaked at 6:00AM
November 9th (the morning after the election)
The #1 issue in search for 44 states is
immigration. Can you guess what the #1 issue is for the remaining 6 states (see
answer below)?
The #1 searched issue in Wayne County is
abortion, while the #1 searched issue in Oakland County is immigration. Macomb
County’s #1 issues are abortion and the economy (tied)
Many people turn to search for a refresher on
the mechanics of the American Election system, especially on the Electoral
College
Answer: The #1 issue for the remaining 6 states is abortion.
Sources:
BusinessInsider.com, “A
Report That Fake News 'Outperformed' Real News on Facebook Suggests the Problem
is Wildly Out of Control”, Variety, “Election Night Ratings: More Than 71 Million TV Viewers Watched Trump Win”, comScore October 2016 vs October
2015; Omniture November 2016; CNN.com, “New York
Times Adds 41,000 Subscriptions After Trump's Election”