While I’m sure no one would disagree that politics in America have been pretty entertaining lately, we decided to kick it up a notch with a dataset showing search trends in both convention host cities the weeks of each event. Think you can guess what event attendees and locals are searching for? You might be surprised.
The Washington Post compared the data side by side with a handy visual. Looks like attendees at the Republican National Convention in Cleveland are hot for Hawaiian food, gay bars, massage therapy, and guns and ammo, while Democratic National Convention folks were checking out distilleries, Mongolian food, cosmetic surgeons and go karts. Here’s how the search trends break down.
Republican National Convention
Food & Nightlife Categories
Hawaiian + 623% compared to -65% at DNC
Gay Bars + 45% compared to +18% at DNC
Dive Bars +40% compared to +7% at DNC
Hot Dogs + 38% compared to -17% at DNC
Greek + 36% compared to -2% at DNC
Wine Bars + 31% compared to – 7% at DNC
Comfort Food + 28% compared to 0% change at DNC
Pizza + 24% compared to 6% at DNC
Ice Cream + 16% compared to -31% at DNC
Burgers + 16% compared to -1% at DNC
Non-Food Categories
Massage Therapy + 178% compared to -1% at DNC
Guns and Ammo + 79% compared to -12% at DNC
Men’s Clothing + 72% compared to -2% at DNC
Women’s Clothing + 50% compared -9% at DNC
Comic Books + 53% compared to – 35% at DNC
Golf +34% compared to -32% at DNC
Sign Making + 24% compared to 1.5% at DNC
Democratic National Convention
Food & Nightlife Categories
Distilleries + 74% compared to 0% at RNC
Mongolian + 48% compared to -24% at RNC
Kosher + 35% compared to -13% at RNC
Vegan + 33% compared to -2% at RNC
Mediterranean + 32% compared to -2% at RNC
Karaoke + 20% compared to -4% at RNC
Vegetarian + 20% compared to -3% at the RNC
Bagels + 13% compared to -8% at RNC
Adult Entertainment + 3% compared to -20% at RNC
Non-Food Categories
Cosmetic Surgeons + 68% compared to -47% at RNC
Go Karts + 69% compared to -30% at RNC
Tattoo + 42% compared to -2% at RNC
Acupuncture + 25% compared to -25% at RNC
Arcade + 20% compared to -5% for RNC
Churches +17% compared to +7% at RNC
Spray Tanning + 12% compared to -9% at RNC
Business Insider and Eater also got in on the action, noting that the variety of search terms is even more intriguing considering that the conventions draw not only party loyalists, but protestors and media too. Who searched for what? We can’t say, but we imagine their Yelp searches led to some interesting run ins!
Want to know more about how we dig into Yelp data to find all these golden nuggets of consumer behavior? Keep an eye on the Yelp Engineering blog, where I’ll be sharing more behind-the-scenes methodology on this political project in the coming weeks.
