Kerry picked to be President

[IowaStatePhiPsi]

http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/tv/apt...on%20President

Kids pick Kerry to be the next president

THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

NEW YORK -- 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."

[hoosier]

But Scholastic, a children's publishing company, gives victory to Bush:

In the 2004 Scholastic Election Poll, George W. Bush received 52 percent of the votes and the Democratic contender, John F. Kerry, received 47 percent. Rounding out the vote, 1 percent of students.

Apparently kids who read favor Bush, while those who watch TV prefer Kerry. Hmm, whose parents are more likely to vote?

[PhiPsiRuss]

Its true.

[AGDee]

Originally posted by hoosier


Apparently kids who read favor Bush, while those who watch TV prefer Kerry. Hmm, whose parents are more likely to vote?

Scholastic News is provided in the school to all children. Children who vote on nick.com have parents with computers and internet access (see, you can spin this lots of ways!)

Dee

[docetboy]

so???

65% of all statistics are made up on the spot.

[Optimist Prime]

Originally posted by docetboy
so???

65% of all statistics are made up on the spot.

That's awesome.

[hottytoddy]

Um and my second grade class also oncluded that Michael Dukakis (SP?) would be president.

[phigamucsb]

Dukakis was such a tool.

[docetboy]

http://special.msn.com/weeklyreader/....armx?GT1=5472

Weekly Reader Student Poll "Elects" Bush

by the editors of Weekly Reader
More links:
More from WeeklyReader.com
More election fun from Election Central
Meet the kid reporters

Weekly Reader kids select Bush in poll

The students who read Weekly Reader's magazines have made their preference for president known: they want to send President Bush back to the White House.

The results of this year's Weekly Reader poll have just been announced, and the winner is President Bush. Hundreds of thousands of students participated, giving the Republican president more than 60% of the votes cast and making him a decisive choice over Democratic Senator John Kerry.

Since 1956, Weekly Reader students in grades 1-12 have correctly picked the president, making the Weekly Reader poll one of the most accurate predictors of presidential outcomes in history.

President Bush was a strong winner in the student poll; the only state Senator Kerry won was Maryland. Senator Kerry was also in a statistical dead heat with President Bush in New York, Massachusetts, Washington, D.C. and Vermont. President Bush won most grades, although Senator Kerry did win among tenth-graders.

This year students caught election fever, with an increase of more than 20% in the number of students participating in the Weekly Reader poll than in any prior year. While there were participants from grades K through 12, third- and fourth-graders were the most enthusiastic voters. More than 57,000 students from each of those two grades voted.

The presidential poll, in which teachers collected their students' votes and forwarded them to an independent polling company to be tabulated, is part of Weekly Reader's "Promote the Vote" program, created to teach students about the election process, the issues, the candidates, and how democracy works.

"This program teaches students that voting is a privilege and a responsibility," said Emily Swenson, President of Weekly Reader. "Through this authentic experience, we are hoping students will become advocates and lifelong voters. And even though the election may be over in eight days, the learning will continue."

As part of the Promote the Vote Program, Weekly Reader will also conduct an essay contest called Write Your Own Acceptance Speech. In this contest, students from grades 3-12 will be asked to write the speech they would give if they were going to be inaugurated as president in January. Contest rules will be posted at the Weekly Reader Website beginning November 8.

To select this year's presidential poll winner, classrooms across the country submitted ballots, called in results via a toll-free number, or voted online. The results were tabulated by Zogby International, which has been conducting public opinion polls since 1984.