Like Father, Like Son?
That probably should be “like parents, like children”…but you get the idea.
That probably should be “like parents, like children”…but you get the idea.
I remember in grade school looking forward each week to a new issue of My Weekly Reader, which was handed out to all the students in my elementary school. My parents even subscribed to My Summer Reader, which came in the mail when school was not in session.
I don’t recall this being done when I was in school, but they gained a reputation over time for accurately predicting the results of presidential elections. They’d run a straw poll of students…and the numbers typically held up better than those from scientific polls.
Not sure that the straw poll conducted of Iowa school children this week by the Iowa Secretary of State’s Office has the same long-term history…but if so, Iowa Republicans have reason for optimism.
GOP candidates made it a clean sweep, in fact. For president, Trump scored 58 percent, Biden 28 percent…and Kanye West 10 percent. Joni Ernst won the Senate race handily, 56 to 33…Ashley Hinson outpaced Abby Finkenauer 59 to 41…Mariannette Miller-Meeks won the open seat in the 2nd district 56 to 44…David Young regained his seat by upending Cindy Axne 52-40…and Randy Feenstra held the 4th district for Republicans 64 to 36.
The theory of why such surveys are so accurate is that children hear their parents at home…and those views are transferred to students in the Iowa Youth Straw Poll.
It’s clearly an unscientific survey… but as they note, that poll four years ago showed Donald Trump defeating Hillary Clinton by 10 points…and reflected the winner of actual results in all but one Iowa congressional race.
We’ll find out if history repeats itself next week.
