What people want to know about presidential candidates, according to Google

More than a dozen candidates have thrown their hat into the 2020 presidential ring. Many voters probably still don’t recognize all the candidates’ names – let alone their policy platforms.

Google searches shed some light on what people are most interested to know about the candidates. According to Google Trends, here are the top searches related to candidates’ names in January and February 2019 (excluding terms such as “2020” and “president”).

The following list is ordered by which candidate’s name had the most search traffic overall.

Sen. Kamala Harris

Estimated total searches: 7,337,100

Top search: husband

Harris’s husband is a lawyer. They met on a blind date. People might be particularly curious about Harris’s marital status due to allegations of an affair with former San Francisco mayor Willie Brown, who said he helped Harris in her career.

Sen. Bernie Sanders

Estimated total searches: 3,765,600

Top search: age

Sanders is 77 – that makes him the oldest candidate this year. Age and health are a concern for presidents because of the stress of the office.

Sen. Elizabeth Warren

Estimated total searches: 2,616,380

Top search: beer

Warren made a live Instagram video on New Year’s Eve drinking a beer with her husband. Critics say it was a painful attempt at authenticity. Warren says the focus on the video is petty.

Rep. Tulsi Gabbard

Estimated total searches: 2,091,340

Top search: assad

Gabbard raised eyebrows in 2017 when she met with Syrian President Bashar al-Assad. When pressed she said she does not think Assad was a good person, but also that he is not the enemy of the United States.

Sen. Amy Klobuchar

Estimated total searches: 1,928,120

Top search: staff

Shortly after she declared her candidacy for president, Klobuchar was hit with accusations that she mistreats her staff. She says she’s just “tough.”

Sen. Cory Booker

Estimated total searches: 1,548,750

Top search: rosario dawson

Booker is a charismatic young senator from New Jersey. The people want to know: is he just friends with actress Rosario Dawson, or are they dating? Booker recently confirmed, “I got a boo,” but he won’t say if that woman is Dawson. Meanwhile there are reports she serenaded Booker on stage after catching a show together on Broadway.

Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand

Estimated total searches: 943,920

Top search: franken

After allegations of sexual misconduct against him, Gillibrand was one of the first to call for Sen. Al Franken to resign. She later said Bill Clinton should have resigned during the Monica Lewinsky investigation. Needless to say those comments made some senior Democrats angry.

Entrepreneur Andrew Yang

Estimated total searches: 698,060

Top search: net worth

Yang is a successful entrepreneur. However, if you search for his net worth, many of your results will be about his one-time negative net worth of $100,000, thanks to school loans. He’s contributed $48,000 to his campaign so far, but he’s aiming for 50,000 individual donations before May 15 to make the Democratic debates in June.

Former Housing and Urban Development Secretary Julián Castro

Estimated total searches: 690,710

Top search: wife

There’s no clear reason why people are so curious about Castro’s other half. In case you’re interested, she’s an elementary school teacher.

Former Libertarian VP candidate Bill Weld

Estimated total searches: 132,670

Top search: how old

Weld is 73, a few years younger than Bernie Sanders and just one year older than Donald Trump. He’s also the only Republican challenging Trump so far.

Rep. John Delaney

Estimated total searches: 121,520

Top search: net worth

According to Wikipedia, Delaney is the 6th wealthiest member of Congress, with a net worth of $93 million. That wealth means he could finance his own campaign, much like Trump. He’s already loaned his campaign $4.6 million.

Gov. Jay Inslee

Estimated total searches: 117,380

Top search: state of emergency

Governor Inslee declared a state emergency after there were more than two dozen confirmed cases of measles in Washington in January.

Gov. John Hickenlooper

Estimated total searches: 79,970

Top search: ?

Even though he got more searches than Pete Buttigieg, Google said there weren’t enough searches related to Hickenlooper to provide details on other search terms. Looks like this Colorado governor has a ways to go on name recognition.

Mayor Pete Buttigieg

Estimated total searches: 69,680

Top search: husband

Buttigieg, a young mayor from South Bend, Indiana is the first openly gay candidate for president, so it makes some sense that people want to know if he’s married. (He is.)