In mid-November 2024, a reputation spread that there was one remarkable increase in Google search for the phrase “change my voice” and similar after Donald Trump’s victory in the US presidential election. This spike is said to have indicated a sense of voter remorse among those who voted for Trump.

The claim spread on social media platforms including X (formerly Twitter), Instagram, Threadsand TikTok. Similar claims also appeared in several news articles. For example, a November 13, 2024 Newsweek article on the subject claimed “Questions about ‘how to change my vote’ spiked on Election Day morning.”

What Google Trends Data Says

Social media posts on the topic often included screenshots from Google Trends, a tool that analyses the relative popularity of the search terms during a certain period. It assigns a value from 0 to 100 to indicate the search interest of a term, with 100 representing the peak popularity within the selected time frame.

On November 20, 2024, we conducted a Google Trends search for three mentioned questions most Often in social media posts (in the last 30 days):

Below you can see resultsindicating that there was a significant increase on Election Day, as well as on November 13, 2024:

(Google Trends)

On November 14, 2024, an X user noted “there may be a degree of Streisand effect here as people look it up to verify the claim that it’s trendy,” referring to a phenomenon where an attempt to draw attention away from something only serves to attract more attention to it.

In addition, all-time data revealed that the increase in searches for the mentioned terms occurred in October 2020.

(Google Trends)

In fact, Trump himself tweeted in late October 2020: “Trending heavily (Google) because immediately after the second debate is CAN I CHANGE MY VOTE? This refers to me changing it.”

Google Trends is not the same as “Trending”

Another reputation that circulated on social media claimed that searches for terms like “can I change my vote” were popular on Google search. However, it is important to clarify that in this case the phrase “trending on Google” can be misleading.

Google Trends, which shows relative search interest over time, can be confused with “Trending Now” feature. The latter highlights a curated selection of popular topics and questions in real time, based on absolute search volume and other contextual factors. Just because a term sees a spike in Google Trends data doesn’t necessarily mean it appears in the “Trending Now” section, as the two tools serve different purposes.

Unprecedented increase in the number of searches?

“People already seem to be regretting their vote for Trump. Google searches for ‘Can I change my vote’ have increased since the election.” wrote an X user on November 13, 2024 attached a screenshot that allegedly shows a 700% increase in searches for the question “can I change my vote”.

(X user @krassenstein)

This claim was also confirmed TikTok. Meanwhile, on Threads, another user shared a screenshot that claims to show a 950% increase for the same search term.

When you search for a term on Google Trends, users can see the “related questions” section at the bottom of the page. Trending search terms, such as those mentioned above, are those that have experienced the most significant growth in search volume during a given time frame compared to the previous period. The percentages shown, such as 700% or 950%, indicate relative growth and not absolute search volumes.

Given how the “related questions” feature works, it is difficult to independently verify information in the screenshots circulating on social media without knowing when they were captured. The data displayed on Google Trends is dynamic, meaning that the results may change depending on when a search is made, the query selected, the time frame and other variables. Consequently, the screenshots likely reflect searches performed at different times.

Red vs Blue States

Another set claims centered on states that largely voted Republican, assert a significant increase in Google searches coming from these areas. A Reddit post stated“Folks in Red States Googled ‘How To Change My Vote’ in droves after Trump’s victory.”

When looking at data from the last 30 days, search results for the queries “change my voice,” “how to change my voice“” and “can i change my vote” indicated that they gained popularity both in states which voted Republican and Democratic.

However, as mentioned earlier, the interpretation of search popularity in each state is highly dependent on the time frame chosen for analysis in Google Trends, as search interest can change significantly over time.

Sources:

“Election 2024: Live Results Map.” AP NEWS, https://apnews.com/projects/election-results-2024/. Accessed 20 November 2024.

Frequently asked questions about Google Trends data – Trends Help. https://support.google.com/trends/answer/4365533?hl=en. Accessed 20 November 2024.

Find related searches – Trends Help. https://support.google.com/trends/answer/4355000. Accessed 20 November 2024.

The Streisand Effect | Definition, Meaning, Examples and Origin | Britannica. November 11, 2024, https://www.britannica.com/topic/Streisand-effect.

Popular Now – Google Trends. https://trends.google.com/trending?geo=US. Accessed 20 November 2024.