November 5, 2024, was Election Day in the United States. Millions of people across the country went to the polling booths to cast their vote for either former President Donald Trump, the Republican Candidate, or Vice President Kamala Harris, the Democratic Candidate. We last checked the traffic impact the candidates had in our 2024 Debate Insights.
While millions of people had preemptively cast their vote by mail, there were still hundreds of millions who took time off work or away from their daily activities to cast their votes in person.
As with any event of this magnitude, traffic to Pornhub sees huge fluctuations throughout the day. When our friends at the New York Post asked us to provide some data, our statisticians were happy to provide it!
Election Day Traffic
By 5 a.m. on Election Day, traffic to the site started seeing an immediate spike of +9% compared to an average day. This trend continued upwards, reaching the peak of the day at +15% by 7 and 8 a.m., when no doubt voters wanted a quick session before the chaos of the day ensued. Traffic remained above average until 3 p.m., when the evening decrease began. Overall, the daytime traffic was up +7%.
From 3 p.m. to 2 a.m. (November 6), traffic remained below average. By 7 p.m., traffic reached its biggest hourly drop, at –19%. With millions of Americans visiting Pornhub every day, a nearly 20% drop in traffic is substantial, meaning a difference of tens of millions of people. After 7 p.m., traffic slowly started going back to average, but it wasn’t until 3 a.m. the next day those numbers spiked again, at +11%. We can only assume after a long night of watching each state count the ballots that people needed to take the edge off.
Overall, the evening decrease was –16% between 6 p.m. and midnight.
Compare these numbers to our 2020 Election Day Insights. We found that morning traffic was up +14%, dipped 11% during the evening, and then reached +14% above average again at 3 a.m.
We can also compare it to our 2016 Election Day Insights! In the morning, traffic was up +17% at 8 a.m., down as low as -23% at 11 p.m., and then shot up +10% at 3 a.m.
Traffic By the Minute
On a minute-by-minute level, our statisticians can see 5:55 p.m. had the biggest drop in traffic, at –22%. By 2:35 a.m., when Trump came out to give a speech, traffic was –16% below average. Within the hour, at 3:30 a.m., hordes of Americans flocked back to the hub, launching traffic to +16% above average.
Daytime Traffic by State
When our statisticians broke the traffic changes down by state during the day (6 a.m. to 6 p.m.) compared to average, they found the states most eager to get their daytime session in were South Carolina, with a +21% increase in traffic, followed by the District of Columbia at +18% and then Illinois at +17%.
The states that saw the lowest change in traffic were Louisiana at +1% and Wyoming at +2%. Arizona, which was a swing state in this election, only saw an increase of +3%. That could be due to the fact they had one of the highest numbers of early ballots cast. It is possible the small change in traffic is because fewer people needed to be out voting.
Other swing states, including Pennsylvania and Wisconsin, also saw increases in daytime traffic. Pennsylvania was up +10% throughout the day, and Wisconsin was up +12%.
Evening Traffic by State
The evening traffic (6 p.m. to midnight) saw more drastic changes compared to an average day. While the District of Columbia was up +18% during the day, they were down – 21% during the evening. Wyoming, which saw a slight increase of +2% during the day, was down –20% during the evening. Minnesota traffic was also down –20% during the evening.
The states with the smallest changes in traffic included Rhode Island, which was down –1% and Hawaii which was down –2%. Interestingly, the swing state of Arizona was only down –3%. It seems the residents of Arizona were far too interested in the election results to think about anything else.
Other swing states, including Pennsylvania, were down –12% throughout the evening, and Wisconsin was down –17%.
Traffic Swing States
When our statisticians broke down the state difference between daytime and evening, the District of Columbia saw the biggest range in traffic difference, followed by Illinois and then South Carolina. As mentioned, Arizona saw the least drastic changes, followed by Rhode Island and then Alaska.
That’s a wrap for the Election Day 2024 Insights. We hope you enjoyed the data! If you want to compare the traffic changes to the 2020 Election Day Insights, check it out here.