Posted on 10/14/2008 4:56:39 PM PDT by GraniteStateConservative
It's official. At least for the kids! The Scholastic Presidential Election Poll results are in: Democratic nominee Senator Barack Obama won with 57 percent of the vote, to 39 percent for Republican nominee Senator John McCain.
The poll was open to kids from grades 1 to 12 in Scholastic News and Junior Scholastic magazines. Almost 250,000 (a quarter of a million) kids voted by paper ballot or online at www.scholastic.com/news. The poll closed on October 10.
Since 1940, the results of the student vote have mirrored the outcome of the general election all but twice: In 1948, kids voted for Thomas E. Dewey over Harry S. Truman. In 1960, more students voted for Richard M. Nixon than for John F. Kennedy. In 2000, a majority of student voters chose George W. Bush, mirroring the Electoral College result, but not the result of the popular vote.
Obama and McCain weren't the only vote getters. Four percent of the students voted for other people like comedian Stephen Colbert, and entertainers Miley Cyrus, and the Jonas Brothers. It was the highest percent of write-in votes in the history of the poll. Some even voted for themselves. Most of the write-in votes —11 percent of the 4 percent—were for Senator Hillary Clinton.
So why is a kid poll important? And does it mean anything come November 4? Kid Reporter Lya Ferreyra knows.
"Not only does [voting in the] poll give kids the experience they will need to vote in the future, but it allows them to have input on who should be the next President of the United States," she said. "It gives kids a voice, which is important, but we won't know the actual outcome until November 4. No one can predict that."
Ferreyra and this reporter both appeared on numerous news programs this week to announce the poll results.
Results from key swing states are as follows:
| Colorado: | McCain 61% | Obama 36% | Other 3% |
| Florida: | McCain 41% | Obama 55% | Other 4% |
| Indiana: | McCain 51% | Obama 47% | Other 2% |
| Iowa: | McCain 48% | Obama 49% | Other 3% |
| Michigan: | McCain 40% | Obama 57% | Other 3% |
| Missouri: |
McCain 49% |
Obama 47% | Other 4% |
| Ohio: |
McCain 47% |
Obama 51% | Other 2% |
| Pennsylvania: |
McCain 46% |
Obama 50% |
Other 4% |
Jack Greenberg is a member of the Scholastic Kids Press Corps.
This is the silliest of polls. But the Hillary actually could be significant.
Don’t the kids in this poll always vote for the Democrat, given he is always being pimped by the magazine and the teachers?
Should read, “the Hillary thing”
This is not like a previous election. Predominently black schools that never participated before did so this time according to a report locally.
How many union teachers threw out the McCain votes? It is different today then when most of us did this poll.
This is not good, because they’ve always been an indicator on who really wins. Then again, Obama does strike a cord with young people.
And thanks to ACORN, these kids will also be able to vote for real on November 4th!
“kids voted by paper ballot or online”
Whoah, that “online” part is new from the last time isn’t it?
I smell a rat.
No. Bush beat Kerry and Gore here, for example.
I smell a rat.
They know this poll will be heavily reported now as a grand predictor.
And now it is “on line” voting too?
Something is fishy.
Oh this is the first time they did the poll online as well?
Who cares, really. It’s not a real poll. There are bigger fish to fry than worrying about this bullstuff.
I gave it creedence before, because the kids generally reflect what they are hearing at home.
But if it is online polling too?
Throw it out.
Did this poll have online voting in 2004 or 2000?
This is outstanding news for McCain. The theory is that the kids reflect what the parents are saying. However, there is an innocent love affair going on with youngsters and Obama this year. In light of that it is amazing that McCain is leading in CO and a couple other states. He’s close enough in the other states except MI that the adults are probably leaning McCain.
If the ratio of homeschooled to public and private school students is similar in other states then the Scholastic News "voting" results in states where the race is within 2% could easily move if you included the homeschooled kids. And guess which way many of them are likely to vote!
O 57% to M 39% is outstanding news for McCain?
The fact that the vote was taken online - rather than in class - tells you that the vote could have been flooded by people other than students.
Back when it meant anything at all, it was taken with paper ballot IN THE CLASSROOM, and the teacher would duly record the results so the children could verify the results...
Looks like they did then too.
http://www.e-thepeople.org/article/36321/view?viewtype
But now days, if it is online, I wouldnt trust it at all.
It would be interesting to see if more online votes were counted now then then.
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