Voters across the country are once again cozying up to their neighbors to the north.
Google Trends shows that less than an hour into Tuesday’s presidential debate between President Trump and Vice President Joe Biden, queries such as “move to Canada” and “how to apply for Canadian citizenship” skyrocketed to their highest levels in years.
Searches for Canadian refuge were most popular in the last week in Oregon, Vermont, and Minnesota. Mississippi, Alabama, and Georgia had the lowest volume of expatriating searches.
The surge in Canada-related queries, however, is only the fourth-largest surge in the past 15 years. Search volume was 3 points higher in November 2004, following President George W. Bush’s reelection. Searches were 31 points higher when Trump clinched the nomination for the Republican Party in 2016, and they are dwarfed by the 81-point difference compared to Trump’s victory in November 2016. There were no noticeable surges in 2008 or 2012.
Tuesday night’s debate was largely recognized as “a total disaster” on both sides of the political spectrum.
