Kerry wins!

[yg17]

Nickelodeon kids vote, that is (http://cnn.netscape.cnn.com/news/story.jsp?flok=FF-APO-1401&idq=/ff/story/0001%2F20041020%2F1135434530.htm&sc=1401&photoid=20041019IAGH112)

Kids Pick Kerry to Be the Next President


NEW YORK (AP) - 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.

Linda Ellerbee, who writes and hosts ``Nick News,'' says their voting usually reflects their parents' views - but not all the time.


``Every so often you get a kid that says, `My parents are voting for X, but I'm voting for Y,''' she said. ``It's amazing, the point when kids start forming their own ideas about issues.''



Ellerbee said Nickelodeon has been traveling the country teaching about the election and the importance of being socially informed. Seven-year-old Anthony Viggiano of Baldwin, N.Y., won a contest for the best song lyrics about freedom of speech and performed it with rocker John Mellencamp.



``If we can get kids interested earlier in voting, when they can legally vote, they will,'' she said. ``They will run for office, they will be the candidates (that) people want to vote for.''



Ellerbee, who will announce the results on ``U-PICK Live'' Wednesday night, said many children wonder why they can't vote in the real election.



``Kids aren't dumb, they're just younger and shorter,'' she said. ``In fact, last election, a boy came up to me and said, `We picked George Bush to win, and he didn't really win. Al Gore won the popular vote, so we were kinda wrong.' Quite an observation.''


Although it sounds useless, read the statistic in the first paragraph, "the vote on Nickelodeon's Web site has correctly chosen the president of the United States in the past four elections."

Lets extend that number to five!

[Dont Hurt Me]

Lets hope those kids know what they are doing because i feel this president doesnt.

[Xtremehkr]

The younger the child the more likely they will go with their parents choice, seems to make sense. I read this earlier and thought it was funny. Sometimes I wonder why the polls continue to remain so close, with all of the coverage how can people still be undecided?

[LeeTom]

SERIOUSLY. If we had a 6-year-old as President, this country would be a lot better off.

"Mr. President, should we go to war in Iraq?"

"War is bad! Let's eat cookies!"

I'd take Cookie Day any day.

Lee Tom

[solvs]

This is better news than most people will think. He won with 57%. I think this is pretty accurate. Think about it, how many kids are going to say, "well my Dad likes Kerry and always talks about how Bush sucks, but I'm definitely going to vote Republican this year". Turn it around, same thing. Not saying it's completely accurate, but definitely gives me hope.

They're probably just afraid they'll have to pay for all of the debt he's racked up and have no money for social security while they're still fighting Iraq 10 years later after being drafted while the rest of the world hates us with no healthcare, the enviroment a mess, and all the good jobs being shipped overseas. But you aren't allowed to criticize the government because as they are trying to protect you from terrorists by taking away all of you freedoms. All because one of the Bush girls became Gov. of FL and helped the other one get elected by not letting Black people vote for Chelsea Clinton. Several older people (us, by then) still accidently vote for Pat Buchannan.

[Thomas Veil]

NEW YORK (AP) - 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.

Out of the mouths of babes....

[Roger1]

SERIOUSLY. If we had a 6-year-old as President, this country would be a lot better off.

"Mr. President, should we go to war in Iraq?"

"War is bad! Let's eat cookies!"

I'd take Cookie Day any day.

Lee Tom

Can we have chocolate milk, too?? :)

[wowser]

"the vote on Nickelodeon's Web site has correctly chosen the president of the United States in the past four elections."
!

I wasn't aware that the Nickelodeon web site was around during Bush Snr's administration???

[Durandal7]

I didn't realize that Nickelodeon was even around in 1988, much less their website.

If we really want to go by BS indicators to predict who will win, I can find a dozen for both Bush and Kerry. Halloween mask sales for Bush are up, another "fool-proof" indicator. It's best to ignore all of these types of things, they serve only as talking points for the campaigns.

I put very little stock in this since there is a flawed premise right off the bat. I'm not sure how extensive the use of any website was back in 1988.

[wowser]

they must have been some pretty damn geeky kids!

[Macmaniac]

I wasn't aware that the Nickelodeon web site was around during Bush Snr's administration???
They have been around for awhile, I bet it was either a mail in poll or a phone poll at that time. Nick is older then you think.

[wowser]

Let me propose another candidate:

http://sisu.typepad.com/sisu/spongebob.jpg

[ocellnuri]

^ If you squint, he looks kind of like a yellow, square-headed Nader.

[solvs]

Nickelodeon (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nickelodeon_%28TV_channel%29) has been around for a long time. Started in 1979 as Pinwheel, re-named in 1981. I remember there was a phone number you could call. My Mom wouldn't let me call it because she thought it would cost $$$. I don't remember if it was an 800 or 900 # or what. A lot of kids voted, and they did pick the President correctly.

[RandomDeadHead]

Yes kiddies, there was entertainment for young people before the internet. Nick was a staple of american life before their were Macintosh computers.

And I remember that the polls were phone in.
Nick has consistently been the best channel on tv since it's inception.

[wowser]

Funny thing is, i bet Spongebob would not win if he ran. It is a shame, as he could be like a Kennedy for this century. However, i suppose some people would see him as 'weak on terrorism'. I think we all now who his running mate would be...

http://www.spongezone.net/pictures/patrick/lollypop.jpg

[Lyle]

And in the interest of being fair and balanced, ChannelOne (http://www.channelone.com/election_2004/results/)'s mock election (involving 1.4 million teenagers around the country) resulted in a win for Bush (with 55 percent of the vote).

[pseudobrit]

And in the interest of being fair and balanced, ChannelOne (http://www.channelone.com/election_2004/results/)'s mock election (involving 1.4 million teenagers around the country) resulted in a win for Bush (with 55 percent of the vote).

Kids must get dumber with age, like a ****** wine.

[Dont Hurt Me]

Teens have all those hormones flowing , they arent thinking about the election they are thinking about otherthings :eek:

[pseudobrit]

Teens have all those hormones flowing , they arent thinking about the election they are thinking about otherthings :eek:

bush

[skunk]

True.

[Dont Hurt Me]

KERRY!

[Durandal7]

Another one, it just goes to show how meaningless these things are:

In the first poll, conducted by Scholastic, the global children's publishing and media company, more than half a million students in first through eighth grades from across the U.S. participated. They voted online and through mail-in paper ballots found in many of Scholastic's classroom magazines.

"George W. Bush won the kids' election poll with 52 percent of the vote," announced Scholastic student reporter David Rush.

Kerry collected 47 percent, with one percent going for other candidates. A few reportedly wrote in "mom" as their choice for president.

Scholastic has been conducting similar polls since 1940, with predictions only wrong in two close elections: 1948 when students chose Thomas Dewey over Harry Truman, and 1960, predicting Richard Nixon would beat John Kennedy.

edit: The article refers to the Scholastic poll as the first poll. The second poll they were talking about was the Nickelodeon poll.

[SiliconAddict]

Bush is going to win. It tears me up to say it but he is. God I’m think before this election is through I’m going to be an alcoholic. :(

[solvs]

Never heard of Channel One before this. But if it helps, according their new poll, when asked if people thought the poll was correct and Bush was going to win, as of right now it says 66% say no. I still think Kerry is still on the table. God, I hope he is. I'd rather have 4 years of him screwing things up than 4 more years of Bush.