As Hillary Clinton prepared to take the stage on Thursday night at the Democratic National Convention, something remarkable happened, briefly, on the internet: More people were searching for “register to vote” than “Kim Kardashian,” according to Google Trends.
Searches for “register to vote” briefly surpassed “Kim Kardashian” during the DNC
Libby Nelson was Vox’s editorial director, politics and policy, leading coverage of how government action and inaction shape American life. Libby has more than a decade of policy journalism experience, including at Inside Higher Ed and Politico. She joined Vox in 2014.
Searches for “register to vote,” in general, had a pretty good night. More people were looking up information on voter registration on Thursday night than they were a week ago, when Donald Trump accepted the Republican nomination in Cleveland:
Most searches were coming from deep blue or deep red states — New York, New Jersey, Hawaii, and Kansas — but Pennsylvania, a key swing state this year, ranked highly as well.
Of course, “register to vote” doesn’t offer many hints about whom the people searching would like to vote for. And the search peak Thursday night didn’t come close to spikes closer to Election Day, or even the search volume before Super Tuesday this year. But it suggests that at the very least a lot of people were paying attention.
(Hat tip to Jake Grovum for the Kardashian comparison.)
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