Politics

Searches For Moving Out Of The US Skyrocketed During The Debate

This combination of pictures created on September 29, 2020 shows Democratic Presidential candidate and former US Vice President Joe Biden (L) and US President Donald Trump speaking during the first presidential debate at the Case Western Reserve University and Cleveland Clinic in Cleveland, Ohio on September 29, 2020. (JIM WATSON,SAUL LOEB/AFP via Getty Images)

JIM WATSON,SAUL LOEB/AFP via Getty Images

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Andrew Trunsky Political Reporter
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Google searches for moving out of the United States skyrocketed during Tuesday’s presidential debate.

Google Trends showed that New Zealand and Canada were two of the most searched immigration destinations the same evening as the first presidential debate. Both President Donald Trump and Joe Biden talked over each other and moderator Chris Wallace repeatedly raised his voice during the debate.

Google Trends evaluates search topics on a scale of 0-100. When the event began, the search “how do I move to New Zealand” was at 0, indicating that there was not enough data to track it.

By 9:20 p.m., however, Google Trends showed the search had risen to 23, and by 10 p.m. the search had skyrocketed to 75. (RELATED: Dana Bash Called The Debate A ‘Sh*t Show’ Live On Air)

By 10:30 p.m., the search had hit 100, indicating “peak popularity” and resulting in a 400% increase.

Searches referencing “move to Canada” peaked at just under 75 on Google Trend’s scale Tuesday night.

A screenshot of Google searches that spiked during the presidential debate Sept. 29, 2020 in Cleveland. (Google Trends / Screenshot)

Tuesday’s debate was not the first time Americans searched for information about relocating to New Zealand. After Trump won the presidency in 2016, Google Trends showed a spike in Americans wanting to move to New Zealand, an opinion that was echoed in jest by the late Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, according to The Washington Post.

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