The Iowa Secretary of State’s web page has the election results for President, U.S. Senate, and U.S. House. Approximately 55,000 students participated. The student ballots included all the candidates who are on the actual ballots, so these results provide the first data I have seen for some of the less well-known presidential canididates.
What is the state interest in putting forth information about polls?
It would be interesting to know what ages the students were (I couldn’t find that information on the website). Mock elections with younger students tend to very closely mirror their parent’s voting. When you get into older teenagers, you start to see some of the skews we associate with younger voters (e.g. more liberal/Democratic, etc.)
Given that it shows Trump winning, it seems this poll is more likely closer to reflecting parent’s voting intentions than to 18-21-year-old voting patterns.
This is not a poll. It is a mock election.
What is the state interest in sponsoring or even reporting on mock elections?
Probably the state government believes that if students are given a chance to participate in mock elections in school, that will stimulate them to inform themselves about government and politics, and make it more likely they will register to vote when they are 18. As long as the mock election ballot contains all the candidates who are on the real ballot, I think it is a good idea.
There’s nothing wrong with staging a mock election. I’ll be interested in how much of a predictor this is of Iowa’s vote on Election Day.
I am disappointed that 1% of Iowa’s kids fell for the hoax that is Egg McMuffin.