Gov. Gretchen Whitmer recently said Michigan is “one of the swingiest of states” in the nation, and a new study seems to confirm that assertion, though likely not in the way the governor intended.

“I am from one of the swingiest of states, the state of Michigan,” Whitmer told PBS New Hour’s Amna Nowaz following President Joe Biden’s abysmal debate performance last month. “I can tell you I don’t get upset about polls where we’re down a couple of points. I do not celebrate polls that – where we’re up a couple of points.”

“I know this is going to be a close race. It always was. It will continue to be so,” she said.

She made a similar comment on the Late Show with Stephen Colbert, prompting laughter from the host:

While Biden’s campaign co-chair is focused on the presidential race, new online search data analyzed by Joy Love Dolls provides a different context for the governor’s comments.

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The adult novelty company examined Google Trends data over a 12-month period, looking at how often folks from different states searched terms associated with the swinging lifestyle, which involves exchanging partners for sex, the Indy Star reports.

Researchers found the monthly average search volume for terms like “swing lifestyle,” “wife swapping,” and “sex parties” was 536 per 100,000 Michiganders, ranking the Great Lakes State fourth nationally behind Delaware, New York, and Pennsylvania.

Ohio, ranked 10th, was the only other state in the Midwest to rank in the top 15, according to The Alliance Review.

Sex education expert Amy Nguyen told the news site there are several signs and symbols swingers use to signal they’re into the lifestyle, including a pink flamingo or garden gnome in the front lawn, an upside-down pineapple in the yard, patio or mailbox, or a black ring on the right hand.

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“Often the people that you meet, you don’t always have sex with them, you just make really good friends, and you can be open with them,” Simon Hopper, cohost of the Bed Hoppers podcast with his wife Carolyn, told USA TODAY.

The goal, the couple said, is to create “friendships with benefits.”

“It took us a long time to find people that we liked,” Hopper said, so they hosted events to help folks “find people to hook up with at a later date or later that night when our event has ended.”

Others who have attempted to destigmatize swinging have faced serious public backlash about their private lives.

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Tony and Diana McCollister were featured in the short-lived A&E reality series “Neighbors with Benefits” in 2015 in an effort to clear up misconceptions about the lifestyle, resulting in efforts to kick the couple out of their subdivision, crass comments and unwanted attention, according to The Cincinnati Enquirer.

The experience convinced the couple to stop hosting swinger parties and to return to their lives as “boring, ordinary people,” Tony McCollister told the news site in 2015.

“I actually hate most swingers,” he told The Enquirer. “If swinging is the most interesting thing about you, then that’s sad.”