South Carolina spent lots of time searching for a presidential long-shot, study finds
South Carolinians seem to be a lot more curious about one presidential candidate than people in other states, a study found.
Flourish used Google Trends data to find which Democratic presidential candidate was the most searched in every county in the country during the week of Jan. 6-13.
The candidates included were those who participated in the Jan. 14 debate in Iowa.
Although Bernie Sanders was the most searched-for candidate in most counties in the country, people in South Carolina seemed to have a different interest.
In all but 10 of the state’s 46 counties, Tom Steyer was the most Googled candidate, according to the study.
Joe Biden was the most searched-for in four counties in the state and Bernie Sanders was the most searched-for in five counties, the study found. Elizabeth Warren was the most searched-for in Lee County.
Pete Buttigieg and Amy Klobuchar didn’t come out on top in any of the state’s counties.
South Carolina is an important state for presidential hopefuls.
The state’s primary election is Feb. 29, which is just days before Super Tuesday, when more than a dozen states hold their primary elections, CBS News reported.
Additionally, South Carolina is the first primary held in a state with a significant share of black voters, according to NPR News. It’s also the first primary in the South, The State reported.
African American voters make up about two-thirds of South Carolina’s “Democratic party voting bloc,” The State reported in November.
South Carolina is usually red, with a Republican winning the state in the presidential election every year so far since 1980, according to Ballotpedia.
In 2016, Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton won the primaries in South Carolina, according to Ballotpedia. In 2012, Newt Gingrich won the state’s Republican primary but didn’t go on to become the party’s nominee, according to The New York Times.
In 2008, Barack Obama and John McCain won the Democratic and Republican primaries, respectively, and were both their party’s presidential nominees, The New York Times reported.
Steyer has spent more than Biden, Sanders, Warren and Buttigieg on advertising in South Carolina, coming out to about $10 million as of December, The State reported.
Although the billionaire seems to have piqued the interest of people in South Carolina, his chances of actually winning in the state are less than promising.
Steyer is predicted to win an “average of 7 percent of the vote” in the state, according to FiveThirtyEight, and he has about a .9 percent chance of winning the most votes in the state.
Biden is the most likely Democratic winner in the state, according to FiveThirtyEight’s forecast, and he has a 63 percent chance of winning the most votes in the state.
This story was originally published January 20, 2020 at 8:13 PM.
