‘Can Trump Still Win Election?’ Google Searches Spike As Inauguration Day Approaches

Democrat Joe Biden is expected to be sworn in as the 46th President of the United States in a little more than a month, but President Donald Trump has not yet given up on contesting the results of the race.

Data from Google suggests that Americans are wondering if Trump has a chance of overturning the results. Per a Thursday report from Newsweek, Google’s search engine has seen spikes in queries such as “Can Trump still win election?”

Searches for “Can Trump still win election?” and similar phrases rose on December 13, one day before Electoral College met and affirmed Biden’s victory. Since then, there have been “periodic spikes,” according to the publication.

Those who typed such terms in the search bar likely came across news stories outlining Republicans’ plans to continue contesting the presidential contest, including articles that dismiss the notion that Trump still has a chance of winning.

As Newsweek pointed out, the Trump campaign has filed over 50 lawsuits so far and nearly all of them have failed. Notably, the Supreme Court recently rejected a case filed by the state of Texas.

Nonetheless, GOP lawmakers have signaled willingness to challenge the certification of results on January 6, when Congress will hold a session to count the electoral votes. A group of them is allegedly trying to persuade their colleagues to reject enough electoral votes to block Biden from being inaugurated. However, since Democrats control the House of Representatives, any such plan is all but guaranteed to fail.

Furthermore, key GOP leaders have not endorsed these initiatives. Earlier this week, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell congratulated Biden and Vice President-elect Kamala Harris on winning and explicitly acknowledged that they will take office on January 20 next year.

As The Washington Post reported, even though there is no evidence the presidential race was “rigged” or stolen by Democrats, many conservative-leaning Americans seem to believe that it was. For instance, a Reuters/Ipsos poll from early November found that 68 percent of Republicans hold that opinion.

Similarly, in a Monmouth poll released that month, 61 percent of Republicans said that they are “not at all confident” that the contest was fair. However, research suggests that partisans on both sides of the aisle tend to perceive a race as illegitimate if their preferred candidate loses.

As The Washington Post noted, “one difference from the past is the self-enclosed loop of partisan news. Social media sites, conservative radio, professional conspiracy theorists and even cable news outlets report nonstop on allegations of fraud and corruption in the election to a partisan audience.”