Insurrection, Riot, or Something Else? Most Popular Google Searches Surrounding Jan. 6 Capitol Attacks
About midday on Jan. 6 was likely the first time many people were hearing the word “insurrection.” It’s thankfully not a term that’s come up frequently in recent history, but whatever was going on at the Capitol in the first week of 2021 called for more than a few Google searches of the phrase.
Leading up the the attacks themselves— the five days prior to Jan. 6— the term “rally” was commonly searched, likely connected to those looking for information regarding what was scheduled to be a Trump rally. By Jan. 6, “protest” had overtaken “rally” and “insurrection” was gaining steam. The Google searches of “insurrection” took over by the following day, and regained interest on Jan. 11— likely related to speculation that then-President Trump would once again face an Impeachment Trial.
There was slight disparity of most commonly searched words by state. The West Coast and much of the Northeast (with a few outliers) were searching the term “riot” in between Jan. 1 and Feb. 1, while the rest of the states were searching “insurrection.”
The variation of terminology surrounding the Capitol attacks is interesting when compared to what many House and Senate Republicans are trying equate to last summer’s peaceful protests concerning racial justice and the Black Lives Matter movement. While there was a blip of searches in late May of 2020 of the word “riot,” the word “protest” was most dominant.
