Aces High Bulletin Board
General Forums => The O' Club => Topic started by: Widewing on October 25, 2004, 06:50:26 PM
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Weekly Reader kids select Bush in Presidential 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 three through 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 (http://www.weeklyreader.com) 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.
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he's been watchign too much daily show :D
looks like he's makeing fun of polls to me anyway
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Originally posted by GScholz
Kids love monkeys ...
Hey! I love monkeys too!!!
(http://far-horizons.50megs.com/43913.jpg)
My regards,
Widewing
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Are you sure they didn't think they were voting for Alfred E Neumann?
FWIW I voted for Nixon in 72 when I was in second grade. Must have appreciated his foreign policy inititatives :)
Charon
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I'd bet that the reason the poll is so acurate is that the kids are just echoing what they hear there parents say at home.
Yet another indication that Bush will win.
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Kids and AOLers for Bush!
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Originally posted by Nash
Kids and AOLers for Bush!
yeah..... kinda cool.
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>>Kids and AOLers for Bush!
<<
redundant...
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Seriously guys, what do you think of my angle on it? The kids are just repeating what they hear at home.
Maybe this is the most accurate poll ever.
The kids are little parrots.
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Originally posted by NUKE
Seriously guys, what do you think of my angle on it? The kids are just repeating what they hear at home.
Maybe this is the most accurate poll ever.
The kids are little parrots.
Except for maybe the 10-12th grades, I think it is the kids paroting what thier parents are saying.
I say except for the 10-12th grades because when I was in the 11th I disagreed with my parental unit about politics. Though that may have just been natural rebellion at home =)
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Bush hating blinded by his own anger hater of free speech unless its from the left's view on this post:
Yet another republican plot to indoctrinate our youth exposed. This is clearly the prodoct of Bush's so called "no child left behind". This is another attempt to turn our children into fascist neocons!
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Wow... 11 replies and no mention of the poll being rigged by republicans. seems the democrats are already out of practice.
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:rolleyes:
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Too late Torque.
Mini-vu took his triple threat drive-by. He's done.
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You stopped by just to say that nash? Talk about drive byes. A rolleyes and don't bother from our friends up north in regards to U.S. politics. That's precious.
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what?
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But...but...my latitude is south of Portland.:p
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Clearly Bush bribed those kids with barrels of Iraqi oil.
-SW
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I hear that the democrats lawyers are looking into a recount based on a lot of the poorer and dumber students not being able to read the ballot.
Did you know that not one candidate who has won the first debate has won the election?
lazs
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Originally posted by Nash
Kids and AOLers for Bush!
hollywierd leftists, burned- out rockers, porno producers, baby murderers, the unemployed & gays for Skerry!
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Originally posted by lazs2
I hear that the democrats lawyers are looking into a recount based on a lot of the poorer and dumber students not being able to read the ballot.
Did you know that not one candidate who has won the first debate has won the election?
lazs
I couldn't imagine Abe Lincoln losing a debate.. So I find your conclusion wrong!! haha!
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O ya.. The pole is rigged..
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I hear the Democrats chief objection to the touch screen voting machines in Florida is the elimination of the possibility of a manual recount. I'm not making this up.
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I heard that the eagle on the dollar bill turns it's head to the spears when America is in a time of war. I'm not making that up either.
I hear a lot of things. The truth, however, requires more than just hearing.
-SW
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Originally posted by AKIron
I hear the Democrats chief objection to the touch screen voting machines in Florida is the elimination of the possibility of a manual recount. I'm not making this up.
lol and you would disagree with this? You dont believe the ability to recount the votes to be a valid idea??
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Originally posted by TheDudeDVant
lol and you would disagree with this? You dont believe the ability to recount the votes to be a valid idea??
so a paper record of the electronic vote would prove what?
dang dems and their tree killing lust
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I wrote a program in college. When you pressed one key, it gave a different output.
I don't trust anything electronic.
-SW
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Originally posted by TheDudeDVant
lol and you would disagree with this? You dont believe the ability to recount the votes to be a valid idea??
I think you are missing the point. With touch screen machine tabulation there is no need for a manual recount. If the machines work properly the votes will be counted far more accurately than a punch card system ever could be. Of course this removes the possibility of tampering with the "chad" which is what I believe the Democrats are really objecting to.
BTW, I'm not sure exactly how the touch screen machines work but when I voted using one on the 18th I was given a magnetic card to put into the machine which I then gave back to the poll people. I was also given a print out with my cert number. There is a vote trail here and I believe this system is probably far less vulnerable to tampering. Again, this is what I believe the Democrats object to. They've already proven that they are willing to throw around false accusations of voter intimidation freely. BTW, how many cases of voter intimidation were ever proven during the 2000 election? Not even one.
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Originally posted by AKS\/\/ulfe
I wrote a program in college. When you pressed one key, it gave a different output.
I don't trust anything electronic.
-SW
Eagler: so a paper record of the electronic vote would prove what?
Very good points.. Screw the touch screen ballots!
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Originally posted by AKIron
I think you are missing the point. With touch screen machine tabulation there is no need for a manual recount. If the machines work properly the votes will be counted far more accurately than a punch card system ever could be. Of course this removes the possibility of tampering with the "chad" which is what I believe the Democrats are really objecting to.
BTW, I'm not sure exactly how the touch screen machines work but when I voted using one on the 18th I was given a magnetic card to put into the machine which I then gave back to the poll people. I was also given a print out with my cert number. There is a vote trail here and I believe this system is probably far less vulnerable to tampering. Again, this is what I believe the Democrats object to. They've already proven that they are willing to throw around false accusations of voter intimidation freely. BTW, how many cases of voter intimidation were ever proven during the 2000 election? Not even one.
at first I thought you were missing the point but then you semed to point out the big problem in your own argument.
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Did you completely ignore the rest of my post about the magnetic card?
Can the system be manipulated? Maybe. Will it be far more reliable than the punch card system that proved to be so unreliable in the last election? I think so. Are there built-in checks to prevent fraud? I can't help but believe it to be so.
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how would the card stop someone from from hacking/setting the machine to give every couple votes to whoever the hacker/programmer wanted to win (or paid him for the votes)?
say a voting machine in a predominately democratic district ends up showing 100% votes for Bush. the magnetic card thing keeps track of who voted, and that ends up checking out OK, but how do you keep track of how many votes were actually cast for each candidate? cards only keep track of who is voting, and if they have a right to. you can't record the vote cast by each card or you lose the privacy of your vote. you can't check the count when something seems wrong because all you have for proof is the very program that gave you the first answer.
kind of like needing a second opinion on a medic issue and getting it from the same DR who gave you the first one.
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Originally posted by AKIron
Can the system be manipulated? Maybe. Will it be far more reliable than the punch card system that proved to be so unreliable in the last election? I think so. Are there built-in checks to prevent fraud? I can't help but believe it to be so.
why does it have to be one of those two flawed systems? there are much better ways to cast ballots.
I don't know how many different ways states do it. here we use a simple paper form. fill in the circle next to the name of the candidate or ballot measure you wish to vote for with black or blue ink. ballots are then read with an optical scanner. this type of counting system has been used successfully on tests for over 30 years. IMO this system is much better than using antique punch cards or the video-poker voting machine.
there are likely other systems used in other states that are also better than either of the two crappy systems that people think we should choose from.
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It is really weak and harmful to the country to be planning to overturn the election by recounting until you get the results you want. even nixon wasn't that sleazy.
lazs
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Originally posted by lazs2
It is really weak and harmful to the country to be planning to overturn the election by recounting until you get the results you want. even nixon wasn't that sleazy.
lazs
just a simple recount probably would have given it to Nixon if the mob didnt kill him off before the recounts were finished, the mob elected JFK & then they "dismissed" him from office .... never bite the hand that feeds ya, or fed your father ...
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Originally posted by TheDudeDVant
I couldn't imagine Abe Lincoln losing a debate.. So I find your conclusion wrong!! haha!
The Lincoln-Douglas debates took place in 1858 when both men were running for the Senate. Lincoln won the debates, but he lost the election.
My regards,
Widewing
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You want a real forecast of the election results, watch the Redskins-Packers game this Sunday. If the Redskins win the game before the election, the incumbent wins. It has been 100% accurate for the past 15 elections. Go Skins.
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Originally posted by Charon
...FWIW I voted for Nixon in 72 when I was in second grade. Must have appreciated his foreign policy inititatives :)
Charon
OMG Charon, I had a flashback of this when I read this thread. Exact same story, Nixon and the second grade. I can still hear the kids chanting "McGovern stinks, McGovern rots, McGovern eats his booger snots".
Grownup elections have not come much further than that, have they? ;)
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LOL Dux, I can't disagree :)
Charon