(Yahoo) As U.S. election exit polls began to point to a second presidency for Donald Trump, many Americans were already looking for another kind of exit: moving abroad.
Google searches for “move to Canada” surged 1,270% in the 24 hours after U.S. East Coast polls closed on Tuesday, company data shows. Similar searches about moving to New Zealand climbed nearly 2,000% while those for Australia jumped 820%.
Late Wednesday evening on the U.S. East Coast, Google searches about emigrating were hitting all-time highs for all three countries, according to a Google official.
The search giant does not provide absolute figures but data from the Immigration New Zealand website showed the site logged some 25,000 new U.S. users on Nov. 7, compared to 1,500 for the same day last year.
Some immigration lawyers are also being inundated with queries.
“Every half hour there is a new email enquiry,” said Evan Green, managing partner at Canada’s oldest immigration law firm, Green and Spiegel.
The sudden enthusiasm for emigration echoes the interest in moving abroad seen after Trump’s 2016 victory. This time, however, the Republican’s re-election has followed a particularly divisive campaign in which nearly three-quarters of U.S. voters said they felt American democracy was under threat, according to Edison Research exit polls.
Many Americans are also worried that his presidency could drive a bigger wedge between Democrats and Republicans on issues such as race, gender, what and how children are taught, and reproductive rights.
“Trump is obviously the impetus, but it’s also societal. The majority of Americans voted for him and some people don’t necessarily feel comfortable living in that kind of society anymore. People are afraid they are going to lose freedoms,” said Green.
