Readers of The Weekly Reader vote Barack Obama to win The White House.
The poll of students - first grade through 12th - has called every presidential election correctly since 1956.
Except one.
The results out Wednesday morning show what amounts to a landslide win for the Democratic candidate. Obama received 54.7% of the vote of 125,000 students to 42% for John McCain.
If you look at the electoral map, it gives Obama 420 electoral votes to 118 for the GOP ticket.
Some things don't change, even when it comes to kids and elections. South Carolina is still a red state. A Democrat has only won South Carolina once since John Kennedy ran in 1960. North Carolina is also a Republican state according to The Weekly Reader Student Poll.
There are some other strange numbers:
- McCain won the Tar Heel state along with Minnesota and New Hampshire, which are battleground states in the real contest.
- Obama won Arizona, McCain's home state and Alaska where Sarah Palin serves as governor.
- Every grade went for Obama except sophomores. 10th graders picked McCain and the edge for Obama in the 11th grade was just 1.5%. However, freshmen went big for the Democrats. More than 85 percent of ninth graders picked Obama to 12 percent for the GOP.
But as I mentioned, the kids aren't infallible. The Weekly Reader has been right on 12 of the 13 presidential elections they've taken the survey. TWR missed in 1992, picking President Bush to win a second term over Bill Clinton.
You can read more about The Weekly Reader 2008 Student Poll by clicking here
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