Crime, healthcare, immigration, economy, and the Iran conflict are the most searched issues of the 2026 elections, according to a Google report released on Tuesday detailing the search trends of the midterm elections.
The Google report says the 2026 elections, which will come to a head in three weeks, are currently the third-most searched midterm election cycle in history, behind the 2022 and 2018 midterm elections. The search engine tracked how each of the top five issues was searched across the cycle, starting in October 2025 through Oct. 18, 2026.
As of Sunday, “crime” was the most-searched issue related to the midterm elections, making up 31% of issue-related searches. Following crime was “health care” at 27%, “immigration” at 20%, “economy” at 17%, and the “Iran conflict” at 5%.
The five issues have toggled back and forth between being the top issue-related search throughout the cycle. Crime sat at the top from June 28 through Sunday, healthcare topped the chart at points in May and June, and Iran was the top issue at certain weeks in March.
Iran reached the highest percentage of any of the issue-related searches throughout the year during the week of March 1, making up 35% of all issues searched.
Searches about the economy only dominated the week of Feb. 1, while immigration never made it to the top-searched slot.
However, on the campaign trail, economic issues have largely dominated the 2026 conversation, with affordability topics being an issue and price-lowering solutions being talked about on both sides of the aisle.
The report also broke down which races were most searched in specific states. In states such as Texas, Michigan, South Carolina, Kentucky, North Carolina, and Nebraska — the states with high-profile upper chamber races — Senate races were the most-searched elections.
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The governor race took the top search in states such as Minnesota, Wisconsin, Maine, Georgia, and Florida. In Alaska, where there is both a heated Senate and gubernatorial race, the state’s most-searched election was over a ballot measure. Although the report does not say which ballot measure is the most-searched, there are two on the November ballot: one to repeal ranked choice voting in the state and one to amend state law to explicitly say only citizens can vote in the state.
“So far, the Senate election is searched four times as much as the House vote,” the Google report says.
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[ H/T Washington Examiner ]
