These Are Americans’ Top Concerns This Election Cycle
By Movieguide® Contributor
A data map from the Associated Press revealed the top election-related searches throughout the year as Americans rev up for the 2024 election.
The data reveals the top 10 searched election-related topics on Google and maps how people’s interest in them has changed throughout the month.
Dating back to Dec. 31, 2023, crime, healthcare, social security and unemployment consistently reign as the most important topics, with a combination of these four searches remaining as the top queries for the majority of the year. With the election only four months away, these searches reveal what the American public is most anxious about.
While both candidates have their own set of talking points, they will likely start to hone in on these topics as they look to connect with as large of an audience as possible.
Other searches that have breached the top ten include economy, immigration, U.S. Supreme Court, race, abortion, minimum wage, inflation, supplemental social security and homelessness. These topics will likely fill out the rest of the candidates’ talking points as they address economic, social and governmental issues.
The data map from the Associated Press also provides information on where in the country these searches are most popular. Interestingly, these searches are often being conducted on the East Coast, especially within the D.C. area.
While addressing the concerns of everyday Americans is of the utmost importance for the candidates, perhaps even more important is the platform through which they share their message. While social media has been the largest player in recent elections, this year has proven different as Meta specifically chooses to step back its political involvement.
At the beginning of the year, Meta’s CEO and founder Mark Zuckerberg announced the company would not push politics as it has in the past, and a recent setting change allowed users to stop receiving political content from people they do not follow. Meta’s decision, in part, is fueled by the risk of mass misinformation that advancements in AI have now made easier than ever.
Movieguide® previously reported:
As artificial intelligence becomes increasingly indistinguishable from reality, experts are warning that the technology could influence the 2024 presidential election.
AI has already been used to spread false information in an attempt to manipulate voters.
“Just days before New Hampshire’s January primary, nearly 20,000 voters received a call using an AI-generated voice of President Biden, attempting to discourage them from showing up at the polls,” CBN News reported.
The voice recording said, “Voting this Tuesday only enables Republicans in their quest to elect Donald Trump again.”
Ben Coleman, CEO of the deep-fake detection platform Reality Defender, helped to detect the fake call and is warning that the technology could become even more subtle.
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