If it feels like the Trump presidency has been hit by non-stop scandals and crises from day one, it's probably because it has been. The Google News Lab looked at the search trends for stories about 40 of the biggest news events of Trump's presidency from Jan. 20 until Sept. 1. You can see how we've all jumped from one four-alarm news fire to another:
Data: Google News Lab; Chart: Lazaro Gamio / Axios
Why it matters: The study shows that while Trump's presidency has been action-packed, the public's attention span doesn't seem to last for long.
The visible spikes of increased Googling on a topic indicate that Trump-related news captures the public's interest, but that attention quickly fizzles out or is captured by the next bombshell report or firing. The House health care bill, North Korea and Afghanistan troops are some of the few that have had slightly more steady interest over time, with Robert Mueller's Russia investigation having several mini-spikes of interest.
The most searched for topics of the 40 listed :
- Searches related to the "Women's March" the day of the march, January 21.
- Searches related to the "Women's March" the day after the march.
- Searches related to “covfefe."