American Schoolkids Favor Obama; Hasslington's Third Presidential Debate Poll Forthcoming

KIDS KNOW THE DARNDEST (PRESIDENTIAL) THINGS

The Scholastic company has been taking presidential straw polls of American schoolkids several weeks prior to U.S. presidential elections for many decades now. Now, before you start giggling, consider this fact: American kids have voted for the eventual presidential election winner thirteen of the fifteen times Scholastic has polled them. That's about an 87% accuracy rating through the 2004 election.

One exception to this accuracy rule was during the first Scholastic schoolkids poll in 1948, but that year just about everyone (including the media "experts") thought Thomas Dewey would beat the then-unpopular incumbent President Harry Truman...until President Truman pulled off an unexpected upset victory. The only other exception was in 1960, when the kids leaned toward Richard Nixon, whereas John F. Kennedy managed to win a close victory, but let's remember that the kids' votes were tabulated prior to the televised presidential debate that President Kennedy later suggested largely won him the election.

So, bearing in mind that the percentages of "victory" in these Scholastic polls have not proven to be nearly as accurate as the ability of the kids to predict the eventual winner, here are the nationwide results of this year's poll:

Barack Obama: 57%
John McCain: 39%
Others: 4%

I very much doubt that Senator Obama will win this election by a whopping 18% nationally, so we can probably throw the specific numbers out the window. The fact of the matter, however, is that these polls have proven eerily accurate in predicting the eventual winner, particularly over the last forty-plus years. (Kids often perceive things far more clearly than we adults realize....)

Still, we are constantly being told that this year is "different." In many ways, it is. (And let's remember that there are still three potential "game-changing" weeks left to go....) So we'll just have to wait and see if the kids have gotten it right yet again. That being said, if I were one of the presidential candidates, I'd much rather win the Scholastic poll than lose it.

HASSLINGTON'S THIRD PRESIDENTIAL DEBATE POLL IS ON ITS WAY...

I watched the entirety of the first and second presidential debates, as well as the entirety of the vice presidential debate, but due to other obligations I may or may not be able to watch all of the third presidential debate, at least not live. So I will provide another Hasslington poll on this blog-site, in the hopes that my readership can indicate who "won" (however one chooses to measure a debate "win") and by how much. It will be posted soon after the third presidential debate ends.

For what it's worth, here are the possible answers in the forthcoming poll: "Big Win For John McCain"; "Moderate Win For John McCain"; "Tie (Draw)"; "Moderate Win For Barack Obama"; "Big Win For Barack Obama."

As always, feel free to let me know why you voted the way you did....