GOOGLE USERS IN Kilkenny have been asking ‘why don’t people like the Green Party?’, while Mullingar residents have been wondering ‘what is the Dáil?’, according to a new map created by Google Trends.

The map shows the five most-searched unique election questions in 35 urban areas in Ireland. To try and get as much regional variation and local issues as possible, the creators removed the most common national search trends from the results.

The most-searched unique question among Dublin users was ‘where are Sinn Féin in the 2020 election polls?’. Also in the top five in Dublin was ‘how tall is Brendan Howlin?’.

Meanwhile, Cork users were asking ‘what is the point of a general election in Ireland?’ and ‘what does the Green Party oppose?’.

In Galway, people wanted to know ‘how many electoral constituency [sic] in Donegal?’ and ‘who is entitled to vote in Irish elections?’.

Google Trends also shows that Sinn Féin has been the most-searched political party in Ireland for several weeks, accounting for more than half of all party related searches in the past two weeks. Leo Varadkar is currently the most searched of all the party leaders.

‘Can Sinn Féin win the election?’ was the most-searched unique question in Tramore, while Sligo users were wondering ‘can Sinn Féin win a majority?’.

Dundalk residents have been asking ‘why should I vote Sinn Féin?’, as well as ‘what will Brexit do to Ireland?’.

‘How tall is Leo?’

Google searches for Sinn Féin, Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael spiked at 11pm on Tuesday of this week, just after the leaders of the three parties faced off in a live debate on RTÉ One.

General election search activity is currently highest in Maynooth, followed by Greystones, Malahide and Ballincollig.

You can view these trends in more detail here. 

Other unique general election-related questions include people in Waterford inquiring ‘how much are the general election posters?’.

The most common unique search in Longford is ‘how tall is Leo Varadkar?’.

You can view the full map here.