Jobs Top Most Googled Topic Ahead Of Midterm Elections; Interest In Firearms Spikes

Americans remain interested in jobs, according to recent data that track what U.S. citizens have shown interest in over the past few weeks as the country nears the main day of midterm elections on Nov. 8. Another topic that has seen an increase in interest among Americans is firearms.

Jobs emerged as the most Googled topic among Americans during the period of Oct. 17 through Oct. 24 under the absolute interest trend, as per data from Axios' 2022 midterms dashboard. Taxes, firearms, wages and Ukraine rounded up the Top 5, while Donald Trump, Russia, China, Joe Biden and student loan forgiveness completed the Top 10.

Axios tracked data using two trends — absolute interest and relative interest. Absolute interest ranks the most Googled topics in U.S. districts, while relative interest compares the interest in a topic between districts.

Midterm voting is well underway in 34 states, but Election Day won't take place until Nov. 8. It appears that as the big day approaches, the issues Americans are interested in have been stabilizing, Axios reported.

Student loan forgiveness, for instance, has logged newfound interest among Americans after the Biden administration launched an online portal for student aid and relief.

Another topic that has seen increasing interest among Americans is firearms. Axios noted that the uptick in firearm searches may be linked to the mass shooting in North Carolina that killed five people in mid-October.

Axios further noted that inflation, gas prices and immigration have not seen a significant uptick in interest over the past week, but the said issues have maintained relatively high interest as they remain in the Top 20.

So far, topics that tend to favor Republicans are still below the peak of search interest, Axios data revealed. It remains to be seen if the data will change in the coming days.

Meanwhile, early voting is ongoing in 34 states. More than 7.5 million people already voted as of Tuesday, CBS News reported. In Georgia, more than 750,000 voters turned in as of the same day, and political experts have observed the surge in early voters for the midterms.

While Democrats have been urging their supporters to get to the polls earlier, some Republican activists are reportedly encouraging supporters to hold on to their ballots until Nov. 8, supposedly as a way to ensure that fraudsters will not manipulate voting systems and rig results in favor of Democratic candidates.

Former President Donald Trump has repeatedly insisted that the 2020 presidential election results were rigged in favor of Joe Biden, but there has been no evidence found regarding his claims.