‘How to move to Canada’: Americans rush to Google after unwatchable debate

If you watched Tuesday night’s presidential debate thinking it was the height of civility, you’re probably in the minority. For many Americans, it was enough to trigger a potential mass exodus.

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Following a debate derailed by interruptions, people speaking over each other, and insults hurled back and forth, Google reported a peak number of searches for “How to apply for Canadian citizenship” in the US.

Some people seemed in such a hurry to get out they couldn’t even get the name right: searches for “How to move to Canda” also spiked alongside the correct “How to move to Canada”.

Searches initially peaked about an hour into the debate, at about 10.30pm, according to the search engine. But it looks like the news unsettled people into the night – there has since been a second wave of searches on how to get Canadian citizenship – with most of the searches happening in the early hours of this morning.

The search was most popular in Massachusetts, followed by Washington and Michigan.

The results are not unprecedented, however – in fact, every election sees a swath of voters contemplating moving over to the other side (of the border). Some even go through with it.

Since Google gave us the ability to contemplate revoking one’s citizenship at a touch of a button, we are just more able to see the numbers. The peak “Let’s all move to Canada” election-induced moment seems to have come after the November 2004 election of George W Bush, according to Google. In the past five years, the highest point at which people were Googling how to move to Canada was after the November 2016 election.