By Shofi Ahmed

A significant change has been noted in the US election landscape. As the final phase of the election takes the stage Google searches for Joe Biden topped Donald Trump over the last 24 hours.

Google Trends show that 50 percent of candidate searches are for the Democrat, with 44 percent for the Republican. Libertarian candidate Jo Jorgensen is the subject of 5 percent of searches and the 1 percent were for the Green Party’s Howie Hawkins.

The trend dramatically changed. It’s in a different direction in this election as on the eve of the 2016 Election Day Trump led the google searches in 38 states. He had 55 percent of Google searches between November 2016 up to the election day.

Notably, Hillary Clinton was unable to push Trump behind in Google searches during 2016, after Trump nets the Republican Party’s nominee.

Google searches indicate curiosity about a candidate, though it should not be considered an indication of voters. But it’s been proven to paint indicative pictures of the people’s movements. Therefore, it could curve out a preview window of what’s likely to happen next.

Unemployment in America topped the search chart in the last seven days before the election. It was the most googled issue in almost all the regions of the country. Second was crime followed by wages, healthcare and the Supreme Court. With 12.6 million Americans out of work the unemployment rate in the US continues to swell due to the coronavirus lockdown restrictions.

Along with Europe, the US suffered a number of recessions in the past. After every US recession since 1991, it took the country progressively longer time to see jobs reappearing in the market. Notably the United States did not regain the number of jobs it lost in the Great Recession until 2014. Given the depths of the current downturn, experts believe the country cannot afford to let history repeat itself—and it’s possible to make choices that will head off that outcome. But responding to the twin challenges of a public-health crisis and an economic downturn may require a new playbook, rapid innovation, learning, and adaptation.