In the midst of the United States Presidential campaign period, social media has been a venue for Americans to joke about moving to Canada in the event that a candidate they dislike becomes president. However, on March 1, 2016, Super Tuesday, data retrieved from Citizenship and Immigration Canada’s website revealed the seriousness of such social media jokes.
Over 15,000 webpage sessions were recorded from American internet service providers (ISP) between 9 p.m. and 11 p.m., with almost 68,000 that day. The previous Tuesday, in comparison, had approximately 4,400 between 9 p.m. and 11 p.m., and 48,000 throughout the day.
Overall, more than 26,000 people using U.S. ISP addresses visited the website in a four-hour period during Super Tuesday.
Google searches for “moving to Canada” also spiked on March 1st, with even more searches on Wednesday, March 2nd.