Kids' Poll Picks Bush To Win In November

[ChavezSpeakstheTruth]

This is very troubling to me.

http://www.theday.com/eng/web/news/re.aspx?re=F1CA3783-7F09-4747-8716-4A2E83F106A4

"Hartford — The nation's schoolchildren apparently believe President Bush deserves another four years in office.

In a mock election held by the Weekly Reader, a Stamford-based national schoolroom newspaper, Bush handily beat his Democratic challenger, U.S. Sen. John Kerry.

Unofficial election returns released Monday showed the Republican incumbent with 65 percent of the kid vote, to 33.4 percent for Kerry. About 1.6 percent of students voted for candidates from a third party."

"Weekly Reader claims it has a strong track record of accurately predicting the presidential winner since 1956. In recent elections, kid voters chose Ronald Reagan over Jimmy Carter in 1980, and George Bush over Michael Dukakis in 1988, with voting margins that closely mirrored the national vote."

[Chico Man]

1. Kids Pick Kerry to Be the Next President

NEW YORK Oct 20, 2004 — Kid power! Democrat John Kerry is the winner, and the rest of the country should pay attention because the vote on Nickelodeon's Web site has correctly chosen the president of the United States in the past four elections.

Nearly 400,000 children and teens voted, and the results were released Wednesday. Kerry received 57 percent of the vote; President Bush got 43 percent.

Nickelodeon has been airing information on the Nov. 2 election, plus sponsoring debates where kids could put forth their views on the environment, the war in Iraq and terrorism. Some animated shows on the cable channel also have been focusing on the election.

http://www.marketwatch.com/news/yhoo/story.asp?source=blq/yhoo&siteid=yhoo&dist=yhoo&guid=%7BD56C1B2F%2D1819%2D4F78%2DAE12%2D65D60836866E%7D

[ChavezSpeakstheTruth]

3. Well - that sounds alot better

:thumbsup:

[wtmusic]

5. the Nick poll has correctly picked the winner the last 4 elections n/t

[Chico Man]

6. 33% of the vote for Kerry? Well, one of these will go home the loser

And they will not be able to say they correctly predicted the 2004 vote in 2008.

[NewYorkerfromMass]

2. The nickelodian vote had a better result

and is also claimed to be accurate.

[BUSHOUT]

4. This is a duplicate and it's very old news. n/t

[ChavezSpeakstheTruth]

8. Wrong - this came out today

http://www.weeklyreader.com/

[BUSHOUT]

11. Same story, same author, dated October 25, 2004, 2:49 PM EDT

I think that's more than 12 hours old. And perhaps I'm wrong, but seem to remember seeing this "news" pass by yesterday.

http://www.newsday.com/news/local/wire/ny-bc-ct--weeklyreader1025oct25,0,6304319.story?coll=ny-ap-regional-wire

[ChavezSpeakstheTruth]

13. Holy crap! You got me!

:eyes:
I saw a date that reads the 26th so I figured it was current

I'm not saying its very consiquential - I just hate to think that parents are letting their kids watch Fox! :)

[progressivebydesign]

7. And Kerry won the Nick poll!

The more affluent schools actually have time and resources to participate in these things! That's why the NICK vote is more important.. I'm not worried.

[Divine Discontent]

10. m e n e i t h e r ! ! !

Linda Ellerbee was on the TV yesterday morning talking about the Nick poll, and I think they really are more accurate because of the fact they are probably in, as stated, more affluent schools. good sign for Kerry.

[qanda]

9. If you look at the internals of the poll

The younger kids overwhelming pick Bush and it's not so clear cut with the older kids. This probably has to do with name recognition.

[w4rma]

12. Has the Weekly Reader poll EVER predicted a Democrat to win?

…
But the science was imperfect in 1992. The kids picked President George H.W. Bush to win re-election over Democrat Bill Clinton and Independent Ross Perot. In 2000, the winner was right, but the percentage was off. In the nation's closest presidential race in history, the kids had predicted Bush in a landslide with 66 percent of the vote.
…
http://www.theday.com/eng/web/news/re.aspx?re=F1CA3783-7F09-4747-8716-4A2E83F106A4

If not. Why?

[Joe Turner]

14. This ridiculous poll was wrong in 1992 and 2000

I heard about this poll yesterday when it was presented on CNN as one of the most accurate polls. LOL.

What the kids reflect is what they have seen on TV in the last 4 years with of course little thought. Also it is understandable that the kids would produce a lopsided vote for Bush. This is because most of the kids whose parents are Bush supporters will most certainly vote for Bush while Kerry has only emerged as a candidate in just the last year and has far less exposure, even within democratic families, than Bush.

Anyway, the claims that this poll is an excellent indicator of presidential elections are ludicrous and belied by the actual results of recent elections—particularly 1992 and 2000.

[skypilot]

15. He looks like a monkey.

He reminds them of Curious George. Except he isn't curious.

[Moderator]

16. Not LBN

Not a scientific poll. Feel free to discuss in GD 2004