Oct 9, 2020
Searches for Obamacare, Affordable Care Act rise after Presidential Debate
By Grace Lysell
Obama left office in 2016, but many policies created by his administration are still in place. Potentially most notably, the Affordable Care Act, dubbed Obamacare. The law aimed to limit the amount American’s spend on healthcare and reduce the quantity of uninsured citizens. Since President Trump took office in 2016, his administration has limited the reach of this program in various ways, most distinctly repealing the mandate that each individual had to be covered by either private health insurance or under the Affordable Care Act. The term “Obamacare” has lost its popularity in recent years, as President Trump aims to minimize the capabilities of the law.
This graph, using information from Google Trends, displays a clear uptick in searches for both “Obamacare” and “Affordable Care Act” on September 30, 2020- the night of the first Presidential debate between President Trump and Joe Biden. During the debate, when asked about the Affordable Care Act, President Trump said, “I want to give them better healthcare at a much lower price, because Obamacare is no good. We made it better and I had a choice to make very early on. We took away the individual mandate. We guaranteed pre existing conditions, but took away the individual mandate. Listen, this is the way it is. And that destroyed … they shouldn’t even call it Obamacare.” This led to the strongest uptick in searches for both terms in over 90 days.
LANY releases third studio album, Mama’s Boy
Los Angeles based Alternative band, LANY, released their third studio album, Mama’s Boy, on Friday, October 2nd, 2020. The album consists of fourteen tracks that contain the same themes of young love and heartbreak that can be found on their previous albums, self-titled LANY, and Malibu Nights. The band is made up of Paul Jason Klien, singer, Jake Goss, percussion, and Charles “Les” Priest on the guitar and keyboard. The three had previously been friends before they decided to form the musical group in March 2014.
According to Google Trends, in the last 90 days LANY had the highest amount of searches on October 2nd, followed by August 14th. Mama’s Boy was released on all streaming platforms on October 2nd, which explains the subsequent rise in searches. August 14th was the release date of their lead single for the album, You! Throughout the 90 days prior to the album’s release, the band’s search popularity fluctuated.
The album was met with mixed reviews from critics. Pitchfork described Mama’s Boy as, “occasionally monotonous and — in a development only partially related to said monotony — vaguely Jesus-centric.” Alternatively, Frankie Rhodes of Redbrick refers to the album as having a, “relaxed, story-telling vibe, bringing with it their signature child-of-the-internet style.”
