The 2014 midterms are almost over, and here’s what you searched for during the cycle, courtesy of Google trends.
Candidates
The most Googled candidates in the U.S. were not in Senate races, but rather in tough gubernatorial contests.
Incumbent Republican Florida Gov. Rick Scott, who remains unfavorable, is locked in a battle against former GOP governor-turned-Democrat Charlie Crist. Scott and Crist were the first and fourth most-searched for candidates in the country, according to Google trends.
Bruce Rauner, the Republican businessman running for governor in Illinois, was the second highest search result.
Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker, survivor of a recall vote after he passed massively polarizing reforms to public sector unions in the state, came in third. Walker is again locked in a close race to gain a second term.
Issues
Taxes, education, healthcare and immigration were the four most-searched issues of this midterm cycle, according to Google.
Obamacare has remained a top-tier campaign issue in 2014, more than a year after the launch of the Healthcare.gov exchanges. Gubernatorial candidates have also focused their efforts on the future of Medicaid expansion.
Republicans have focused considerable attention on immigration-related issues such as border security, while Democrats have sought to turn out Hispanic voters to build support for comprehensive immigration reform.
Obama
President Obama drew considerable Googling of his own, with people searching for his approval rating, immigration, divorce (tabloid rumors suggested the Obamas were getting divorced) and Ebola. Immigration has been a major issue for 2014 candidates, and the president has drawn considerable criticism for declining to institute a travel ban for people traveling to the U.S. from Ebola-stricken nations in West Africa.
Alaska
Alaskans searched for information regarding an ad that incumbent Democrat Sen. Mark Begich ran accusing his Republican challenger Dan Sullivan, formerly the state’s attorney general, of approving the early release of a sex offender who is now charged with murder and the sexual assault of a 2 year-old. The ad was taken down at the request of the child’s family.
For his part, Begich drew interest from voters curious about his connections to President Obama and his signature legislation, Obamacare.
Sullivan leads Begich by 2.4 percentage points in the RealClearPolitics polling average.
Arkansas
Rep. Tom Cotton, the Republican hoping to unseat Democrat Mark Pryor, is a decorated military veteran — a past that drew a high number of search results. He was also married in the spring.
Arkansans took interest in one late campaign controversy, when Republicans seized on a passage in Pryor’s college thesis that seemed, out of context, to indicate resistance to the federal government’s role in ending segregation in the state.
Cotton leads Pryor by 7 points in the RealClearPolitics polling average.
Colorado
Abortion dominated search terms for Colorado, thanks to Democratic Sen. Mark Udall’s unrelenting messaging focused on abortion and contraception.
But voters were also interested in basic biographical information about his Republican challenger, Rep. Cory Gardner, searching for his age and family situation.
Gardner leads Udall by 2.5 points in the RealClearPolitics polling average.
Iowa
Most Iowans were curious about the biography of state senator Joni Ernst, the Republican candidate for the open U.S. Senate seat, with a high number of searches about her age and family.
The U.S. Chamber of Commerce worked its way into the top search terms for her Democratic opponent Bruce Braley, with an October ad suggesting that Braley does the Chicken Dance in representing himself to voters.
Ernst leads Braley by just over 2 points in the RealClearPolitics polling average.
Kansas
Voters took interest in the personal wealth of independent challenger Greg Orman, who is a successful businessman and would be one of the richest members of the Senate if he defeats incumbent Republican Sen. Pat Roberts, whose own net worth inspired curiosity.
Orman leads Roberts by just under a point in the RealClearPolitics polling average.
Kentucky
Voters wanted to know more about Alison Lundergan Grimes, the 35 year-old Kentucky Secretary of State trying to unseat Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, including her age, marital status (she’s married) and net worth. They also searched for information about her official parking spot at the state capital, which McConnell had featured in an ad accusing her of absenteeism in her role as secretary of state, showing it empty.
McConnell’s wife, the former Secretary of Labor Elaine Chao, was also among the top search terms.
McConnell leads Lundergan Grimes by 7 points in the RealClearPolitics polling average.
Louisiana
Sen. Mary Landrieu, fighting to keep her seat, attracted nationwide attention for helping a tailgater perform a keg stand at the LSU-Mississippi State football game in September, a stunt that was also reflected in the search terms involving her.
Her GOP opponent, Rep. Bill Cassidy, announced in July that his teenage daughter was pregnant. That incident provoked curiosity, as did his the former doctor’s plans for replacing Obamacare.
Cassidy leads Landrieu by nearly 5 points in the RealClearPolitics polling average.
Michigan
Outsourcing and offshoring are always controversial topics in Michigan, a state with a proud history of manufacturing autos. Republican Senate candidate Terri Lynn Land’s ads hitting Democratic opponent Gary Peters for giving a contract for manufacturing Keno lottery pencils to a Chinese firm during his tenure as state lottery commissioner were among the most searched-for items related to the race. Voters were also interested in Peters’ service in the Navy Reserve.
Peters leads Land by nearly 13 points in the RealClearPolitics polling average.
North Carolina
Democratic incumbent Sen. Kay Hagan faces Republican challenger Thom Tillis.
Hagan has come under fire for her 2009 vote for Obamacare, while Democrats have focused their fire on Tillis for women’s issues such as birth control and abortion.
She leads Tillis by just over a point in the RealClearPolitics polling average.
Wisconsin
Republican Gov. Scott Walker is locked in a tight race with Democratic challenger Mary Burke.
Much of the race has focused on a “John Doe” investigation of Walker, while Burke’s top search involves her 1990s departure from Trek, a company owned by her family.
Walker leads Burke by just over 2 points in the RealClearPolitics polling average.
New Hampshire
Democratic incumbent Sen. Jeanne Shaheen faces Republican challenger — and former Massachusetts Senator — Scott Brown.
The two share the top two search results, but Brown’s third result references his Cosmopolitan magazine centerfold from 1982. Cosmopolitan has endorsed Shaheen.
Shaheen leads Brown by less than a point in the RealClearPolitics polling average.
Virginia
Incumbent Democratic Sen. Mark Warner faces Republican Ed Gillespie in the Virginia Senate race.
Warner leads Gillespie by nearly 10 points in the RealClearPolitics polling average.
