America's young voters declare Barack Obama the next president

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Over a quarter of a million students (who are too young to vote) cast their ballots by Scholastic a children’s publishing and media company. The winner is Barack Obama, the Democratic nominee. He was clearly the winner, receiving 57 per cent of the vote with Republican nominee John McCain receiving only 39 per cent of the vote.

It would be easy to discount the poll except for one thing: in the last 17 presidential elections the students have picked the winner 15 of those times.

The two misses were in 1948, when they picked Thomas Dewey instead of Harry Truman, and in 1960 Richard Nixon was the pick over John F. Kennedy.

Suzanne Freeman, executive editor of Scholastic Kids Press Corps and Scholastic News Online said, “Dewey-Truman was really close … and newspapers got that wrong, too."

Scholastic officials also point out the votes were cast by the students for Nixon and Kennedy before the first debate was televised. That debate proved to be a turning point in that election.

The election poll which began at the start of school and ended Oct. 10 was open to all elementary, middle and high school students across the United States. Most of those that voted were in the the third through eighth grades with ages ranging from about 8 to about 13.

Freeman said, "It’s important to let kids have a voice. It helps prepare them for when they’re older and they do get the vote … It makes them feel more entitled to knowing what’s going on in an election.”

Scholastic officials did state the students were likely voting for the one that the parents were talking about at home, but they added---to a point, at least.

Freeman said, “Kids are more excited about this election than they were in the last two. They’re following it closer, and I think we may be getting more of what the kids really think …

“I’m sure a lot of it still reflects what they’re hearing at home because kids are like that … but these kids are much more involved.”

In 2000 Scholastic began offering online voting. This year they were careful to include a variety of filters on its Web site to prevent adults from voting and skewing the results.


In the recent past, students chose George W. Bush over John Kerry and Al Gore in 2004 and 2000 — which means in 2000, student voters still got it right even though they didn’t reflect the result of the popular vote.

This year 4 percent of the students wrote in other candidates which was the most write-ins recorded in Scholastic's voting history. The write-ins included Sen. Hillary Clinton, Congressman Ron Paul, Independent candidate Ralph Nader and a few votes for TV personality Stephen Colbert.

Obama swept both his home state and McCain’s state. In Illinois 67 percent of the vote was for Obama and in Arizona he received 54 percent of the vote. McCain received 30 percent in Illinois and 42 percent in Arizona.

In the swing states here is how the students voted for McCain and Obama:

Colorado: McCain, 61 percent; Obama, 36 percent
Florida: McCain, 41 percent; Obama, 55 percent
Indiana: McCain, 51 percent; Obama, 47 percent
Iowa: McCain, 48 percent; Obama, 49 percent
Michigan: McCain, 40 percent; Obama, 57 percent
Missouri: McCain, 49 percent; Obama, 47 percent
Ohio: McCain, 47 percent; Obama, 51 percent
Pennsylvania: McCain, 46 percent; Obama, 50 percent