Election wins linked to Internet porn use

CAMDEN, N.J., April 21 (UPI) -- Politicians who win an election top off the night with a party, but U.S. researchers say some voters for the winning candidate end the night with pornography.

Charlotte Markey, a psychologist at Rutgers University-Camden and her husband, Patrick Markey of Villanova University, utilized Google trends and analyzed pornography keyword scores computed for the week before an election and for the week after an election -- including Election Day -- for each state during the 2004, 2006 and 2008 elections.

"Google trends is a way to get a snap shot of what people are really thinking about," Charlotte Markey said in a statement. "Thirty percent of all content on the Internet is pornography."

Google trends doesn't specify gender, but it is estimated that 90 percent of porn use is attributed to men, the researchers said.

The study, published in the journal Evolution and Human Behavior, found individuals in states that voted for the winning political party tended to have higher rates of pornography-seeking behaviors following the election than did individuals located in states that voted for the losing political party -- even controlling for pornography-seeking behaviors the week before the election.

"Research has shown testosterone levels fluctuate with whether or not one wins in a competition," Charlotte Markey said. "Even if a man is sitting in a bar and his team wins, his testosterone levels will rise."

The findings suggest individuals who vicariously won experienced increased levels of testosterone and elevated interest in sex and sought pornography more than those who vicariously lost.