If it were up to Arizona kids, our country would be preparing to welcome its first female president, results from Channel One News’ mock election show.
The mock election, dubbed OneVote 2016, included nearly 300,000 fourth- through 12th-graders from across the United States who made their presidential picks last week.
Hillary Clinton not only won over 53 percent of the Arizona school children who participated, she won 47 percent of the national student vote.
While these votes won’t be considered when ballots are counted on Nov. 8, Channel One’s mock election has accurately predicted the next president of the United States since the program began in 1992, said Angela Hunter, senior vice president and executive producer at Channel One News
“In a few weeks, we will see if that record holds,” she said.
The Republican nominee, Donald Trump, didn’t fare quite as well with Arizona children, winning 29 percent of the vote. Nationally, he received 41 percent of the student vote.
Eighteen percent of participating Arizona students showed their independent colors, casting votes for “other” candidates, which included Libertarian Gary Johnson and Green Party candidate Jill Stein.
In addition to selecting the next president of the United States, students were asked to identify the political issues that were most important to them. In Arizona, the top issues included:
- Terrorism: 19 percent
- Education: 15 percent
- Immigration: 12 percent
Nationally, both terrorism and education got high marks as the issues most important to children, followed by gun control.
