Kids Pick Kerry to Be the Next President

Kids Pick Kerry to Be the Next President (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.”

Yikes. Not a good sign for Bush, although the magnitude of the Kerry win is so inconsistent with any of the polling that I’m a bit skeptical. Not to mention the fact that it’s a web poll.

FILED UNDER: 2004 Election, Environment, Public Opinion Polls, Terrorism, , , ,
James Joyner
About James Joyner
James Joyner is Professor and Department Head of Security Studies at Marine Corps University's Command and Staff College. He's a former Army officer and Desert Storm veteran. Views expressed here are his own. Follow James on Twitter @DrJJoyner.

Comments

  1. IR says:

    Ooops…someone forgot to mention that Nickelodeon televises internationally. In fact, it’s the #1 show for elementary aged girls in Canada…and is pretty highly rated in Latin America as well. I don’t have the ambition to check what other nations get the channel…but the short story is that this is no different from the inane foreign polls that the media is trying to cram down our throats…
    Cheers

  2. dw says:

    Except that I think the Nickelodeon poll was only of American kids.

    Anyway, the big indicator is the Weekly Reader poll due out next week. That one has been right every go around since 1956.

  3. Sgt Fluffy says:

    I wonder how many Move on members voted?

  4. Jay Solo says:

    The Scholastic poll went for Bush, and has been right almost every time since 1940. Forget which blog I saw that on today…

  5. dw says:

    Scholastic has been wrong twice:
    1948 – Dewey
    1960 – Nixon

    Both elections similar to this one.

    Better to hold out for Weekly Reader since it doesn’t rely on online voting like Scholastic.

  6. Kenny says:

    Ahem. “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.”

    Nick.com has been around for 16 years? Impressive.

  7. Jays says:

    Not to mention the fact that it’s a web poll.

    …uh…and they’re KIDS!!

  8. Bithead says:

    I think it not coincidental thta Linda Ellerbee was running the show. A look into her own political leanings should give you a fair indication of what’s going on here.

  9. There was a scientific poll a while back that had Bush up among kids.

    However, in this election cycle, who knows?

  10. SAHMmy says:

    Have you ever watched Ellerbee’s reports on Nick News? It’s left-wing nauseating. I have to stand there with my kids when it’s on, infusing facts to counter what Ms. Ellerbee just said.

    I finally gave up and switch the channel whenever I see her massive head on the TV. Can you say “indoctrination”? I knew you could.

  11. John says:

    Channel One, the in-school cable TV channel had a mock election and with 1.4 million teens voting, George Bush received 393 electoral votes, and 55% popular vote See http://www.channelone.com/election_2004/results/