Donald Trump dominated Google during the Fox News debate

Republican presidential front-runner Donald Trump thanked US voters for searching his name on Google throughout the Thursday-night primary debate, in which he had refused to participate.

"Thank you, America!" Trump tweeted early Friday morning with a link to a Google Trends video.

The Google Trends data showed that Trump was the most searched candidate both in Iowa and across the country.

However, Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Florida), who had several strong moments during the debate among a Fox News focus group, briefly overtook Trump in Google searches in Iowa for one moment.

Trump declined to participate in the Fox-hosted debate, which took place in Iowa just days the state becomes the first to weigh in on the GOP primary next Monday. He repeatedly complained that one of the moderators was Fox host Megyn Kelly.

Check out additional Google Trends data from the debate >

View Google's video on Iowa searches below:

NOW WATCH: Watch Trump go head-to-head with a reporter and attack Megyn Kelly for being a 'lightweight reporter'

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