How did the internet react to Andrew Cuomo’s resignation?

Andrew Cuomo announced on Tuesday that he would resign as New York governor after an attorney general’s investigation concluded that he had sexually harassed at least 11 women.

In his resignation speech, Cuomo maintained that he had not touched anyone inappropriately, dancing around the allegations and pushing the blame away.

One particularly jarring moment saw the soon-to-be former governor appear to question how far the #MeToo movement had gone, saying: “In my mind, I have never crossed the line with anyone, but I didn’t realize the extent to which the line has been redrawn.”

By looking at Google Trends, we can see what people were searching in relation to the breaking news of Cuomo’s resignation. Immediately after his speech, there was a significant spike in search for questions around his marital status and his ex-wife, Kerry Kennedy.

People were also curious to know how long Cuomo has been governor for (since 2011) – and there was of course huge interest in who his replacement would be (the answer being Kathy Hochul, New York’s lieutenant governor.) With regards to search trends around Hochul, over the last 24 hours people have been googling who she is, the political party she is affiliated with (Democrat), how long she will be governor for (the next gubernatorial election is in November 2022) and, somewhat confusingly, her height (this, I’m afraid, I don’t even know myself).

When we look at what happened on social media, rather than simply what people were searching Google and other search engines for as the news hit, the story gets more interesting. The Facebook page that garnered the most interactions on posts related to Andrew Cuomo was right-wing commentator Ben Shapiro’s; the most successful post of Shapiro’s was Cuomo’s resignation speech video titled “DISGRACED: Cuomo Announces Resignation Amid Sexual Harassment, Nursing Home Scandals”. Shapiro’s Facebook page was followed in popularity by Newsmax, Fox News, Dan Bongino, Breitbart and fellow right-wing talking head Dinesh D’Souza. It’s clear that right-wing commentators and outlets were revelling in the news of Cuomo’s resignation and seeking to score political points from it; it’s also clear that their audience was responding to that tactic.

Andrew Cuomo’s political future looks very uncertain, but what we can rely on is people searching for politicians’ wives, the right relishing in attacking Democrats, and a perennial interest in how tall people are who have ascended to powerful metaphorical heights.

Yours,

Lucy Anna Gray

US audience editor