For 76 years Scholastic conducted mock elections among students through School news magazine every election cycle. As it turns out, that’s a pretty correct prediction of the actual, adult election, which takes place about a month after the “votes” are cast. Since 1964, Scholastic News Election has correctly predicted the winner of the presidential election — and this year forecasting AND main Hillary Clinton wins.
With 153,000 votes counted, Clinton defeated Donald Trump by a vote of 52 to 35. If the election were real, Clinton would have won 436 electoral votes to Trump’s just 99.
In a typical quirk of this year’s mock election, the “Other” section won 13 percent of the vote and also “won” the District of Columbia’s three electoral votes. In previous elections, “Other” had never won more than five percent of the vote.
The Democratic former first lady and U.S. senator won 52 percent of the vote, while Republican real estate developer Donald Trump won 35 percent. In all, Clinton, who has been rising in polls among adults, won enough states to secure 436 electoral votes, to Trump’s 99.
Clinton needs just 270 electoral votes to win, and a poll-tracking website fivethirtyeight.com on Monday announced that she had received a total of 345 electoral votes.
Among schoolchildren, Clinton won nearly every battleground state: Arizona, Florida, Georgia, Indiana, Michigan, Nevada, New Hampshire, North Carolina and Ohio. She also won Alaska, Idaho, Texas and Utah, all traditionally red states.
Considering that the mock election is essentially a straw poll of students’ parents, perhaps that’s not as absurd a rate as it seems. In other states, these mock elections also have perfect or near-perfect results.
Clinton also “won” the “Redskin Rule” when the Redskins defeated the Eagles this past weekend.
