2008 Someone’s Going to Write a Paper on the Li’l Bradley Effect in 5…4…3…2…
posted by on October 29 at 12:00 PM
Here is good news: the Weekly Reader election for under-18 students has just finished. 125,000 kids of all ages participated, and the results have been announced: Obama 54.7%, John McCain 42.9%. “Who gives a flying fuck?” I can hear you say, and I say in response, “Hold your goddamned horses, already! I was just getting to that.”
The Weekly Reader election has correctly guessed the outcome of the real election for the past 12 out of 13 elections, missing only the 1992 Bush/Clinton/Perot election (the kids chose Bush). That’s 52 years. Some people think the accuracy is due to the fact that most parents talk openly at home about who they’re going to vote for, making this one of the most accurate polls of the electoral year.
This article breaks down the results state by state, including the mini-electoral college, and it’s interesting stuff. I highly recommend checking it out.
I think you were just looking for an excuse to post that awesome picture of Optimus Prime.
I voted for Carter on the Weekly Reader election; the only kid in my third grade class to do so. All the other fucking mini-facists voted for Reagan. Both my parents voted for Reagan as well.
Wow, after Sumo-College, that dude must have gotten several Master Degrees, MIT Robotics probablys. Weird that the speech he gave consisted solely of one phrase, "pull my finger."
I voted for Bush in my Weekly Reader election; he just looked more kindly and grandfatherly in his photo than Dukakis.
I wonder how many adults continue to base voting decisions on such criteria.
@1: Totally.
In kindergarten I voted for Jessee Jackson. When Regan won, our class received a bound thank you letter from him but the auto-pen had signed his name backwards. I remember thinking it was good a retard could be elected president. Boy was I wrong!
According to the write-up, the only grade to elect McCain was 10th grade. Fucking sophomores.
You forgot the best part: John McCain, in a speech thanking the 53,625 children who voted for him, is quoted as saying, "GET OFF MY LAWN, YOU MISERABLE FUCKS!"
Our 4th grade class accurately predicted the Nixon landslide in '72.
My son was a bit sad yesterday when I told him that he won't be able to vote for another 10 years.
@4: we must have canceled each other out, becaue I voted for Dukakis in that Weekly Reader election. I think it was because he was younger.
Seriously, this many of you remember who you voted for in the Weekly Reader election in elementary school? Wow. Clearly you all need to smoke more pot.
I don't even remember what I ate for lunch yesterday (too much pot) but I remember my Weekly Reader election. I voted for Perot because he was weird and I was weird. Everyone else in my class voted for Bush except a couple other girls who thought Bill Clinton was dreeeeamy.
Hmm, intriguing logic...
Perhaps more so if you take into account that, if kids are assumed to vote with their parents, then this would actually be a biased vote toward those with more kids...
Normally, I'd think that would mean biased toward McCain... but perhaps the newly registered Obama-folks and the old, crotchety McCain folks would cancel each other out in the childlessness department.
I remember voting for Carter in 1980 (4th grade), and I was in the minority in my class. And yes, I voted for him because that's who my mom was voting for. My dad voted for John Anderson, the independent, and actually worked on his campaign. He couldn't bring himself to vote for Carter, and he hated and despised Ronald Regan.
I voted for Nixon in 1972. Fifth grade, I think. I thought his name sounded cooler than McGovern. This is the logic of a fifth grader.
My parents were appalled.
I'm not sure if this will be as accurate for this race.. I think kids are making more of their own decisions now because they have more access to information, youtube, etc. and someone like obama is going to appeal to younger people
I understand Palin is giving a speech right now claiming ACORN rigged the election by registering tens of thousands of grade-schoolers who should have been ineligible to vote because they had a visit to the principal's office on their permanent records...
Kids are dicks.
WTF happened in Minnesota??? McFailin by 8 points!? Was it the Marge Gunderman accent?
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