There is no denying the drama (some might call it circus) of the just past US Presidential Election. The years leading up to it all—the decision of Joe Biden’s dropping out of this summer, the court trials involving Presidential Elect Donald Trump, and the tribal-like opposing sides battle—left folks, no matter where their loyalties lay, exhausted and hyper-sensitive.
According to Pornhub’s 2024 Election Day traffic data as reported here, there was and continues to be a direct correlation between their viewers exploring specific scene links while undergoing specific emotional states related to their voting behavior as well as the broader cultural context of all that happened.
For instance, on Election Day morning, Pornhub saw its traffic spike to 15%, but that same night Pornhub’s traffic dropped 19%. No surprise here of course, considering election polling locations closing and people probably switching to watching election results in real-time election coverage. By early morning, as a Trump victory became more assured, traffic spiked again, to 11% above average.
There was also a wild pre-election activity on Pornhub, possibly hinting at voters trying to balance their anxiety with their upcoming desire to engage in the civic duty of voting.
Surely, there will be considerations, critiques, criticism and name-calling from both sides well into when Donald Trump takes office, and beyond. And people will continue to enjoy searching and watching naughty scenes on Pornhub…no matter who is in office. An whether or not there is an actual Trump agenda to rid the US of porn (his party has been often spoken with in the same breath as the surely anti-porn Project 2025), the above offers a glimpse into how the American citizens processed such seemingly high stakes events.
