Hawley vs. Kunce: Which Missouri U.S. Senate candidate leads in Google searches?

ST. LOUIS - It's debate night for Missouri U.S. Senate candidates Josh Hawley and Lucas Kunce. And in just five days comes the November 2024 general election to decide this highly-contested race and others.

Republican incumbent Josh Hawley will debate Democratic challenger Lucas Kunce on a live televised event on Thursday, Oct. 31, hosted by the Nexstar Media Group at KTVI-TV FOX 2/KPLR-TV studios in St. Louis.

The debate is scheduled to begin at 7 p.m. CT.

KTVI-TV FOX 2/KPLR-TV will broadcast the debate live, along with Nexstar affiliates in Kansas City (WDAF-TV), Springfield (KRBK) and Joplin (KSNF-TV), and our broadcast partners with the News-Press Gazette in Columbia and St. Joseph. Viewers are encouraged to check their local listings for exact broadcast times and channels in their area.

Ahead of the election, FOX 2 reviewed Google search results that show when people were most likely to search about Hawley and Kunce in the 2024 calendar year.

The interactive chart below shows Google search trends within the United States and within Missouri for both Hawley and Kunce from January to October 2024.

According to Google, its search score numbers represent search interest relative to the peak interest. So, a value of 100 on Google ratings is the peak popularity for that search term during the past 12 months.

Google search scores reveal that Hawley led Kunce in peak search interest, both within Missouri and nationally, during most weeks of the 2024 calendar year.

Kunce's Google search scores in Missouri topped Hawley's three times during weekly search cycles that included parts of August. Hawley's Google search scores have led Kunce, both within Missouri and nationally, since the turn to September.

Two notable peaks in searches for both candidates came from Monday-Sunday cycles ending on August 4 and October 20. Both cycles produced combined Google scores greater than 200 for both candidates. In the first such instance, searches for Hawley and Kunce spiked days before the August 2024 primary election. In the latest such instance, searches for Hawley and Kunce spiked days before in-person absentee voting began in Missouri for the November 2024 general election.

Google trends also revealed related topics and queries for both candidates around this year's searches, offering insight into other search inquiries related to both candidates.

Related topics and queries for Hawley over the last 12 months included "Christian Nationalism," "Boeing," "Citizens United" and "Alejandro Mayorkas."

Related topics and queries for Kunce over the last 12 months included "Armed Forces," "Abortion Rights," "December Harmon" and "Mita Biswas."