P.Diddy's gonna be pist

October 21, 2004 3:35 PM

American teens have spoken, and they want George W. Bush for president. Nearly 1.4 million teens voted in the nation's largest mock election, and the Republican incumbent wound up with 393 electoral votes and 55 percent of the total votes cast.
posted by Mick (49 comments total)

Good thing those little fuckers can't vote for real yet.
posted by 40 Watt at 3:43 PM on October 21, 2004

21/10/2004 17:15 - (SA)
Some 400 000 children responded to the poll, and 57% backed Kerry against 43% for Bush.

"The 'kids' vote' seems to work as a good barometer of the actual presidential vote because, developmentally, kids between the ages of two and 11 share the same opinions and outlooks as their parents," said Cyma Zarghami, president of the television channel, part of Viacom International."

Can see it now, these children will be riding in the back of the school bus.
posted by thomcatspike at 3:47 PM on October 21, 2004

(left a tag open)
posted by thomcatspike at 3:48 PM on October 21, 2004

Thank goodness that Dubya has wrapped up that all-imporant ineligible teen vote! Then again, at this point I believe teenagers would be the only ones who might vote for him.

Oh, Channel One! Well, considering that school districts that force their students to watch TV in class are usually the more affluent ones, I could see why the results would skew that way.

If this was meant to lift the spirits of otherwise-despondent Bush supporters, I'd say they're getting desperate, indeed. "THE KIDS LIKE US, RIGHT?!?!?"
posted by solistrato at 3:49 PM on October 21, 2004

teens - bastion of good judgment and rational thinking! In other news, 80% of them can't find Iraq on a map. WTF is this bullshit?
posted by Tryptophan-5ht at 3:50 PM on October 21, 2004

I am stunned he won Texas.
posted by Peter H at 4:00 PM on October 21, 2004

No idiot left behind...when they get on in years and serve in the military in the George's Next Big Adventure they can look fondly back at their votes.
posted by Postroad at 4:02 PM on October 21, 2004

Maybe the kids like Bush because he has such a def mastery of the language that he's cutting edge.

Or maybe they just like his party boy image or his pretty hot daughters?

Also, I'd like to see the methodology used to generate these numbers before they mean anything. Its entirely possible to skew the data to whichever side you want by only asking those people you know will give you the answers you want. And the site doesn't say when they were polled either, before the debates? That'll skew it. After the debates? That'll skew it too. All through the election season? That will skew it as well. Without the basic information, this "data" is pretty well useless.

If I were a teen, I'd want Bush and Dick too!
posted by fenriq at 4:04 PM on October 21, 2004

Hearing reports from Texas, I imagine those kids who are eligible to vote (ie college students) won't be voting Republican - does anyone have any links to articles on the recent tuition rise?

It seems to have popped about $3000 bucks overnight.

Not good.
posted by Mossy at 4:04 PM on October 21, 2004

Most probably just voted for Bush to be smart asses. Like that online CNN poll that came out election day 2000 that showed Nader winning 46% national vote.

Either way, a vote for Bush puts all these teenagers right at the risk of being blown up, killed, and crippled in Iraq, as all parents should realize. Or at least unemployed, less enfranchized, etc. It's a good poll, this vote, to show just how innocent kids are, and how much parents should protect em by voting that evil fucker out on his cold debate-bugged ass.

IMHO
posted by Peter H at 4:04 PM on October 21, 2004

Mossy - I'm in Austin, at least in this city Bush isn't popular one bit, very much included with the college population. Of course go east to A&M and you'll see a different bunch of college asshole, or north to Baylor (waco, tx) and you're in religious waters. But in Austin, we very much want that fucker gone, all age groups and demographics included.
posted by Peter H at 4:08 PM on October 21, 2004

It could also be the case that Bush is just more popular with teenagers.
posted by Joey Michaels at 4:21 PM on October 21, 2004

Jenna & Barbara Bush Welcome You to
SPRING BREAK FALLUJAH 2005!
posted by thomcatspike at 4:25 PM on October 21, 2004

who are you gonna believe, ChannelOne , Nickelodeon, or the American Bible Society?

The ABS poll was conducted online in partnership with Synovate/TeenNation. Parental supervision was required for those minors who participated in the survey.

har. thanks, tcs.
posted by mrgrimm at 4:28 PM on October 21, 2004

There's an actual Scholastic Poll which isn't posting results until next week from polling kids. They have been a good predictor of election wins in the past, so I'm curious to see what the results of that one is.
posted by mathowie at 4:40 PM on October 21, 2004

Let's see how much those teens like fighting in Bush's next wars (assuming he finishes the first two).
posted by fleener at 4:46 PM on October 21, 2004

That's it, they're grounded.
posted by jonmc at 5:05 PM on October 21, 2004

From MeFi: Should Teenagers Have the Right To Vote?

Just as an interesting related thing.
posted by Joey Michaels at 5:19 PM on October 21, 2004

mathowie: The rule re Scholastic doesn't seem to have applied in close elections. Winners of past Scholastic polls have included W. Bush, Dewey and Nixon in his face-off with JFK.
posted by raysmj at 5:27 PM on October 21, 2004

Most College Students Favor Kerry

The majority of U.S. college students favor Democratic challenger John Kerry over President Bush, according to a Harvard University poll released on Thursday that sees a dramatic rise in campus voter turnout.

Just weeks before the Nov. 2 election, researchers at Harvard's Institute of Politics found that 52 percent of all students want the Massachusetts senator elected president, 39 percent support Bush, and 8 percent are undecided.

In 14 hotly contested swing states, the poll shows Kerry leading Bush by 17 points among students.

The data suggest more students are leaning toward Kerry than six months ago, when Harvard last surveyed them. That poll, released in April, found Kerry leading Bush by 48-38 percent with 11 percent undecided.

College Students Plan to Vote in Record Numbers, Kerry Builds on Lead, Harvard Poll Finds

Nearly 72 percent of college students report that they are "certain" they are registered to vote and "definitely" plan on voting this November. More than in other years, students believe that they have a stake -- and will have a say -- in the outcome of the election.
posted by y2karl at 5:32 PM on October 21, 2004

It's just a short trip down the ol' slippery slope to shitty folk-rock bands, LSD internment camps and the under-12 set planning their takeover. If Hollywood has taught me anything, anyway.
posted by arto at 5:39 PM on October 21, 2004

Hey arto, I have a copy of that flick's soundtrack on vinyl.

14 or fight, baby! :)
posted by jonmc at 5:50 PM on October 21, 2004

Matt, isn't this the results of the Scholastic poll?
posted by odin53 at 6:02 PM on October 21, 2004

Aughaughaugh.
I take solace in the fact that when my fourth-grade class ran a schoolwide mock election, Bush Sr. was reelected with 43%.
posted by casarkos at 6:06 PM on October 21, 2004

I noticed that the more remote, less populated areas of the nation (Montana, Alaska, Idaho, etc.) all have much greater numbers for Bush. Maybe it's me, but it seems like the less you live around other people, the less connected you are to the major problems that face the nation as a whole, and the more likely you are to vote for someone that has the same narrow and selfish interests as yourself. ...That's just my own biased view on things. Sure there's always a few Democrats in these places, but they are almost never the majority. Conservatives are welcome to contrast this with an alternate viewpoint.
posted by Down10 at 6:13 PM on October 21, 2004

Don't trust anyone under 30.
posted by spilon at 6:20 PM on October 21, 2004

You know, when it gets as far as analysing polls of those who don't have a vote, I'd say we're really desperate to know who's going to win.
posted by orange swan at 6:37 PM on October 21, 2004

A site for those pro-Bush teens
posted by amberglow at 7:02 PM on October 21, 2004

43% 63%
posted by casarkos at 7:10 PM on October 21, 2004

Conservatives are welcome to contrast this with an alternate viewpoint.

I'm not a conservative, but some of the worst poverty in the country is in rural areas, and the Bush crew has not been kind to the small farmer either, so I'd have to guess that there are at least some folks in the hinterlands who are anti-Bush.
posted by jonmc at 7:29 PM on October 21, 2004

oops--sorry thomcat : >
posted by amberglow at 7:35 PM on October 21, 2004

Houseplants, on the other hand, are split down the middle--50% favor Badnarik, and the other 50% support the Green Party.
posted by Sidhedevil at 7:35 PM on October 21, 2004

American teens have spoken, and they want George W. Bush for president.

All the more proof that he's the wrong man for the job. The opinion of teenagers should be used as a contra-indicator in almost every area, from the arts to politics.

Your "average" teenager is even more profoundly stupid than your "average" american, as they have not even gained experience or wisdom to help them make their choices.

When I was a teenager, I was supposedly "smart" and had all the standardized test results and IQ tests to prove it.

I was also a strict isolationist and an incredible chauvinist. In other words, dumb as a fucking stick.

I think the only thing I ever got right politically as a teen was knowing that Ronald Reagan was an evil bastard who should not be trusted.
posted by Ynoxas at 7:40 PM on October 21, 2004

It's very telling that polling Canadians about the U.S. election did not seem nearly as useless as this does to me:-)
posted by orange swan at 7:43 PM on October 21, 2004

Of course go east to A&M and you'll see a different bunch of college asshole, or north to Baylor (waco, tx) and you're in religious waters.

I live in rural east Texas, and we consider Austin to be the asshole of the state. there may be assholes at A&M, but they're not all about the butt-crack. I graduated from there, and voted early this week - democrat and libertarian all the way down the line. Get your head out of your butt and shut your pie-hole, you high and mighty Austin freak.
I kid, I kid.
posted by bradth27 at 7:56 PM on October 21, 2004

I live in urban north central Texas, and we also consider Austin the asshole of the state. It's very telling that polling young people who can't vote still makes me feel as useless as my vote, being a reluctant democrat in this logic-forsaken place. Next, abc news will poll these republican teenagers and find out how many of them are having sex. I would say this poll and all such reports are absurd but that would be redundant.
posted by ZachsMind at 8:57 PM on October 21, 2004

I live in rural east Texas, and we consider Austin to be the asshole of the state. there may be assholes at A&M, but they're not all about the butt-crack

Texas, it's like a whole other country.™
posted by Ynoxas at 8:59 PM on October 21, 2004

As I posted over on DailyKos -- ChannelOne is notorious for being an advertising-supported "free" service. Ever since its inception, there has been significant opposition from teacher's unions and liberal parents' groups. It is unlikely that Channel One is equally represented across the US; school districts accepting Channel One are going to be those with fewer liberals, and many urban districts may not be represented altogether simply becaue they can't afford the technology investment (TV in every classroom, cable feed), which is not free.
posted by dhartung at 9:04 PM on October 21, 2004

arto: "It's just a short trip down the ol' slippery slope to... LSD internment camps and ..."
It's about bloody time!
posted by arse_hat at 9:05 PM on October 21, 2004

Heh. I remember voting for president in first grade. I voted for McGovern. Didn't do any good. Nixon still won. The little bastards.
posted by octobersurprise at 9:17 PM on October 21, 2004

Austin is the only city in this godforsaken state I could possibly stand to live in. Asshole of the state my ass!
posted by beth at 9:20 PM on October 21, 2004

Ahh, the smell of teen spirit in the morning!

Smells like.......diabetes.
posted by troutfishing at 9:21 PM on October 21, 2004

I polled some teens today and all 7 of them would vote for Kerry, if they could vote....
posted by kamylyon at 9:56 PM on October 21, 2004

and only one of them wasn't in the south, btw...
posted by kamylyon at 9:57 PM on October 21, 2004

Austin is the only city in this godforsaken state I could possibly stand to live in. Asshole of the state my ass!

Admit you live in the butthole. It's okay. If it makes you feel better, I will ask everyone I know to begin calling Austin the starfish section. How's that?
posted by bradth27 at 10:02 PM on October 21, 2004

What, ain't you never been to Midland / Odessa? That puts the sheee-it in shitburg.
posted by ROU_Xenophobe at 11:27 PM on October 21, 2004

"Mr. President... what do you think tribal sovereignty means?" {mov}
posted by dobbs at 11:49 PM on October 21, 2004

...many urban districts may not be represented altogether simply becaue they can't afford the technology investment (TV in every classroom, cable feed), which is not free.

Actually, the TVs and wiring of the school are part of the deal. That's probably the main appeal for the schools to sign up.
posted by 4easypayments at 9:44 AM on October 22, 2004

regarding Austin as asshole ...

when i lived in Detroit, most Michiganders said the same thing about Detroit b/c that's where all the black people live.

when i lived in Louisville, most Kentuckians said the same thing about Louisville b/c that's where all the black people live.

when i finally moved to San Francisco, i was glad to see that most Californians agree that it's Cowschwitz, Coalinga, otherwise known as Harris Ranch.
posted by mrgrimm at 3:17 PM on October 22, 2004