Nickelodeon viewers pick Hillary Clinton in latest ‘Kids Pick the President’ poll

For the most part, we have no interest in reporting on politics or the billion or so polls that are out there. However, there is one we find routinely fascinating year after year, and that is the “Kids Pick the President” poll put on by Nickelodeon every year. The children’s network obviously has a viewership that cannot vote, but it’s surprising accurate: In the seven times that the network has generated responses from its viewers, the kids have been right six times. The only time in which they were wrong was when kids voted John Kerry into office over George W. Bush back in 2004.

According to the network, over 900,000 votes were cast in the poll this year, which was won by Hillary Clinton with 53%. Donald Trump, meanwhile, received 36% of the vote, while Gary Johnson had 11%. Hey, if kids were voting for President we feel like the Libertarian Party would get a lot more attention on the national stage with these numbers!

Obviously, we’re not sure how scientific these polls are, so don’t even bother coming up with some conspiracy theories about them. Children are the future, so we do think there is something to take away from what viewers of a children’s network think about the election. There’s clearly an interest here in third parties from them, and it’s still clear that opinions are very much split.

The biggest bummer about this election to us, all politics aside, is how child-unfriendly it is. One of the benefits from these year in and year out is being able to teach children about the political process so that they can be actively engaged and involved in voting down the line. As “Saturday Night Live” even pointed out last night, though, this may be the meanest and most-depressing election over the past several decades, with so many insults and allegations flying out all over the place. It’s gone from an educational tool to something that you don’t want your kids even watching. It’s not even something that one party is solely guilty of, given that there have been problems here on all sides. At least Nick’s done a good job putting out more kid-friendly resumes of the candidates on their website.

Ultimately, we’ll see precisely how right or wrong the children voters are coming election day this Tuesday. (Photo: Nickelodeon.)