FILE PHOTO: Campaign signs for U.S. President Donald Trump and presidential nominee and former Vice President Joe Biden are seen on Election Day in Cherryville, Pennsylvania, U.S., November 3, 2020. REUTERS/Rachel Wisniewski/File Photo
FILE PHOTO: Campaign signs for U.S. President Donald Trump and presidential nominee and former Vice President Joe Biden are seen on Election Day in Cherryville, Pennsylvania, U.S., November 3, 2020. REUTERS/Rachel Wisniewski/File Photo
FILE PHOTO: Campaign signs for U.S. President Donald Trump and presidential nominee and former Vice President Joe Biden are seen on Election Day in Cherryville, Pennsylvania, U.S., November 3, 2020. REUTERS/Rachel Wisniewski/File Photo
FILE PHOTO: Campaign signs for U.S. President Donald Trump and presidential nominee and former Vice President Joe Biden are seen on Election Day in Cherryville, Pennsylvania, U.S., November 3, 2020. R

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Can both candidates get to 270 votes? Here’s a look at the top election internet searches

There is a lot of curiosity about the electoral college

Cody Combs
Cody Combs
Washington, DC

November 05, 2020

  • English
  • Arabic

As the polls closed and US election workers began counting millions of ballots, voters and non-voters turned their attention to clearing up any confusion they might have about how the country elects a president.

Here's a look at how people were searching about the topic online.

What is the electoral college?

According to Alphabet, Google's parent company, searches for “How does the electoral college work?", "What is the electoral college?", and "Why do we have the electoral college?” surged after the polls closed.

How many electoral votes in …?

In the US, 270 electoral votes are required to win the presidency and each state awards a specific number of such votes, depending on state populations, to pick the president.

The system has proved controversial in recent years, with Al Gore and Hillary Clinton winning the popular vote but losing the electoral college and therefore failing to take the White House.

In this election cycle, it proved to be equally interesting to people in terms of internet searches.

Google noted ample interest in searches for how many electoral votes each state was worth, with a lot of curiosity about Nevada, Texas, California, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin.

What about a tie?

As both Mr Biden and Mr Trump initially failed to reach the required 270 electoral votes, there were several questions that crossed the minds of many.

Google indicated there appeared to be some concern about what would happen if neither candidate got to 270 electoral votes.

The search giant also said people were very curious about what would happen in the event of an electoral college tie.

If a tie were to happen, it should be noted that the House of Representatives, controlled by the Democratic Party, would be given the job of choosing the next president.

When will Pennsylvania be called?

With our society's need for instant gratification, it seems many voters were impatient to find out why certain states were taking so long to count votes.

Searches such as “When will Pennsylvania be called?” and “When will Michigan be called?” surged 1,600 per cent, according to Google.

There also seemed to be some surprise and curiosity as to how Joe Biden managed to win Virginia so quickly, with searches for “How did Biden win Virginia?” rising significantly.

Global interest

The search surges were not unique to the US. Google indicated there was global interest and possible anxiety about the US election results, with a 5,000 per cent rise in searches for “live election results” in the past 24 hours.

Outside the US, Canada, Australia and New Zealand appeared to show the most interest in terms of searches.

Puerto Rico showed the most search intensity for the topic.

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Falconpox

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Mercer, the investment consulting arm of US services company Marsh & McLennan, expects its wealth division to at least double its assets under management (AUM) in the Middle East as wealth in the region continues to grow despite economic headwinds, a company official said.

Mercer Wealth, which globally has $160 billion in AUM, plans to boost its AUM in the region to $2-$3bn in the next 2-3 years from the present $1bn, said Yasir AbuShaban, a Dubai-based principal with Mercer Wealth.

“Within the next two to three years, we are looking at reaching $2 to $3 billion as a conservative estimate and we do see an opportunity to do so,” said Mr AbuShaban.

Mercer does not directly make investments, but allocates clients’ money they have discretion to, to professional asset managers. They also provide advice to clients.

“We have buying power. We can negotiate on their (client’s) behalf with asset managers to provide them lower fees than they otherwise would have to get on their own,” he added.

Mercer Wealth’s clients include sovereign wealth funds, family offices, and insurance companies among others.

From its office in Dubai, Mercer also looks after Africa, India and Turkey, where they also see opportunity for growth.

Wealth creation in Middle East and Africa (MEA) grew 8.5 per cent to $8.1 trillion last year from $7.5tn in 2015, higher than last year’s global average of 6 per cent and the second-highest growth in a region after Asia-Pacific which grew 9.9 per cent, according to consultancy Boston Consulting Group (BCG). In the region, where wealth grew just 1.9 per cent in 2015 compared with 2014, a pickup in oil prices has helped in wealth generation.

BCG is forecasting MEA wealth will rise to $12tn by 2021, growing at an annual average of 8 per cent.

Drivers of wealth generation in the region will be split evenly between new wealth creation and growth of performance of existing assets, according to BCG.

Another general trend in the region is clients’ looking for a comprehensive approach to investing, according to Mr AbuShaban.

“Institutional investors or some of the families are seeing a slowdown in the available capital they have to invest and in that sense they are looking at optimizing the way they manage their portfolios and making sure they are not investing haphazardly and different parts of their investment are working together,” said Mr AbuShaban.

Some clients also have a higher appetite for risk, given the low interest-rate environment that does not provide enough yield for some institutional investors. These clients are keen to invest in illiquid assets, such as private equity and infrastructure.

“What we have seen is a desire for higher returns in what has been a low-return environment specifically in various fixed income or bonds,” he said.

“In this environment, we have seen a de facto increase in the risk that clients are taking in things like illiquid investments, private equity investments, infrastructure and private debt, those kind of investments were higher illiquidity results in incrementally higher returns.”

The Abu Dhabi Investment Authority, one of the largest sovereign wealth funds, said in its 2016 report that has gradually increased its exposure in direct private equity and private credit transactions, mainly in Asian markets and especially in China and India. The authority’s private equity department focused on structured equities owing to “their defensive characteristics.”

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Hometown: Bogota, Colombia
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Bogleheads follow simple investing philosophies to build their wealth and live better lives. Just follow these steps.

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•   Invest early, invest often. It takes time to grow your wealth on the stock market. The sooner you begin, the better.

•   Choose the right level of risk. Don't gamble by investing in get-rich-quick schemes or high-risk plays. Don't play it too safe, either, by leaving long-term savings in cash.

•   Diversify. Do not keep all your eggs in one basket. Spread your money between different companies, sectors, markets and asset classes such as bonds and property.

•   Keep charges low. The biggest drag on investment performance is all the charges you pay to advisers and active fund managers.

•   Keep it simple. Complexity is your enemy. You can build a balanced, diversified portfolio with just a handful of ETFs.

•   Forget timing the market. Nobody knows where share prices will go next, so don't try to second-guess them.

•   Stick with it. Do not sell up in a market crash. Use the opportunity to invest more at the lower price.

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Started: October 2023
Founder: Namrata Raina
Based: Dubai
Sector: E-commerce
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