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Home / World

Americans searching 'how to move to NZ' skyrockets during a tight election race

NZ Herald
4 Nov, 2020 05:52 AM3 mins to read

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President Trump supporters wave a flag during an election watch party. Photo / AP

President Trump supporters wave a flag during an election watch party. Photo / AP

As the world awaits to hear who has won the US presidency, Americans are already exploring their options, including a move to the Land of the Long White Cloud.

Google trends have shown a massive spike in searches on how to move to New Zealand.

A screenshot on Google Trends captured the rise in Google searches. Photo / Google
A screenshot on Google Trends captured the rise in Google searches. Photo / Google
This screenshot reflects searchers in the past hour from 6pm. Photo / Google
This screenshot reflects searchers in the past hour from 6pm. Photo / Google

Americans have also turned to Twitter to share their hopes in moving to New Zealand.

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We might all need to move to NZ. Everywhere sucks.

— Yamini Lohia (@ylohia) November 4, 2020

Let's move all to NZ!!!

— Stitch the Pom & mom🐾😷🍂🍁 (@StitchThePomFl) November 4, 2020

bb move to nz

— elli loves ryleeᵀᴾᵂᴷ ◟̽◞̽ (@lhznlloml) November 4, 2020

At 5.37pm the search "how to move to New Zealand" peaked at 100 with a large number of Google searches coming from California, including Los Angeles.

Biden has won California, the nation's biggest electoral haul.

However this is not the first time these Google searches have spiked.

Just 20 minutes into the "chaotic" and "s*** show" September debate between Donald Trump and Joe Biden, Americans had enough with Google Trends showing a substantial rise in the search "how to move to New Zealand".

Google Trends searches are ranked between 0 and 100, with 0 meaning not enough data and 100 indicating peak popularity.

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Less than an hour into the debate, the search "how to move to New Zealand" was sitting at 75 out of 100.

By the end of the debate, it had hit 100.

In the past, celebrities have also said they will leave the states if Donald Trump would be reelected for another four years.

John Legend and Chrissy Teigen, Bruce Springsteen, Ricky Martin and Tommy Lee are a few who have said they would move.

Discover more

World

Amanda Knox slammed for election tweet

04 Nov 06:45 AM

However some celebrities did not follow through: in 2018 stars including Miley Cryus, Chelsea Handler, Samuel L Jackson and Amy Schumer promised to ditch the states if Trump were to win.

He did, but celebrities still stayed put.

In September, Legend hinted that he and his wife Teigen might pack up their family and move from their home state of California.

The couple campaigned for Biden in Philadelphia said they are "exhausted" by Trump, calling his leadership "embarrassing".

"Every once in a while you think about it," Legend said of leaving the US.

"We were born and raised here, all of our families are here. It would be hard to leave.

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"But I don't know what one's supposed to do when you have a leader who is trying to destroy democracy.

"At some point, if that project [to destroy democracy] was to be in any way successful, you'd have to think about going somewhere that is a true democracy, that has respect for the rule of law and human rights.

"If America chooses to be that place then people will have to start thinking about going somewhere else. It is truly disturbing and concerning," he said.

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