Kids Pick the President facts for kids
Kids Pick the President is a special TV series from the Nickelodeon TV network. It's all about a mock election, which is like a pretend election. Kids get to vote for who they want to be the President of the United States. Since 1988, Kids Pick the President has usually guessed the real winner of the election. But it was wrong in 2004 and 2016.
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How Kids Pick the President Started
The Kids Pick the President specials began in 1988. They were part of Nickelodeon's "Kids Vote" coverage each year. The main idea was to get kids interested in how elections work. It was also a bit for fun!
Early Elections: 1992-2000
In 1992, the store Target Corporation helped with the election. Kids could go to Target stores to vote in person. These stores acted like polling stations, which are places where people go to cast their votes.
For the 1996 election, kids voted by phone. They chose Bill Clinton over Bob Dole and Ross Perot.
In 2000, about 400,000 kids voted using a special toll-free phone number. Both Al Gore and George W. Bush, who were running for president, even visited the Nickelodeon studios!
Voting in the 2000s
In 2004, Nickelodeon promoted the event a lot. They showed short ads on TV, had features in Nickelodeon Magazine, and created online games. The candidates, John Kerry and George W. Bush, said they were too busy to appear. Linda Ellerbee announced the results on U-Pick Live. Kerry won the kids' vote with 57 percent. President Bush got 43 percent. This was the first time the kids' vote did not match the real election winner.
In 2008, a huge 2.2 million kids voted! Both main candidates, Barack Obama and John McCain, took part. They even filmed TV ads to tell kids to vote. Kids could vote on Nickelodeon's website. The website showed what each candidate thought about different topics. Kids didn't need any special rules to vote. Obama won with 51 percent of the votes. McCain received 49 percent. Linda Ellerbee announced these results live too.
Recent Elections: 2012-2020
In 2012, Obama won the kids' vote again with 65% over Mitt Romney. Romney chose not to join the event. Instead, clips from his past speeches were shown. Obama, however, invited kids to meet him at the White House. He answered their questions in person. Linda Ellerbee, the host of Nick News, thought Romney's choice showed he didn't "respect" young people.
In 2016, Nickelodeon's poll included three candidates. They were Donald Trump (Republican), Hillary Clinton (Democrat), and Gary Johnson (Libertarian). Nickelodeon only shared information about the Democratic and Republican candidates. This was the first election after Linda Ellerbee retired. The results were shown in a short TV segment. Clinton won with 53 percent of the kids' vote. Trump got 36 percent, and Johnson received 11 percent. This was the second time the kids' vote was different from the real election.
In 2020, the poll was between Trump and Joe Biden. The results were announced during a one-hour Nick News special. It was called Nick News: Kids Pick the President. Keke Palmer hosted the show. It was shown on Nickelodeon, Nicktoons, and TeenNick on October 27. The Libertarian candidate, Jo Jorgensen, was upset because she was not on the poll. She said Nickelodeon was "teaching our children that there are only 2 parties."
Dealing with Fake Votes
On October 21, 2020, Nickelodeon found out about cheating. People online were talking about how to send fake votes to the Kids Pick the President website. Nickelodeon found over 130,000 fake votes. They used a special tool to find and remove these votes. This made sure that only real votes from kids counted. Biden won the poll with 53% of the vote. Trump got 47%.
Past Election Results
Here's a table showing the results of the Kids Pick the President elections. Democratic candidate Republican candidate Independent candidate Reform candidate Libertarian candidate Presidential election winner
| Year | Winner | Runners-up | Ref. | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Candidate | Vote percentage | Candidate | Vote percentage | Candidate | Vote percentage | ||
| 1988 | H. W. Bush | 51% | Dukakis | 49% | N/A | ||
| 1992 | B. Clinton | 38% | H. W. Bush | 37.9% | Perot | 24% | |
| 1996 | B. Clinton | 45% | Dole | 37% | Perot | 18% | |
| 2000 | W. Bush | 55% | Gore | 45% | N/A | ||
| 2004 | Kerry | 57% | W. Bush | 43% | N/A | ||
| 2008 | Obama | 51% | McCain | 49% | N/A | ||
| 2012 | Obama | 65% | Romney | 35% | N/A | ||
| 2016 | H. Clinton | 53% | Trump | 36% | Johnson | 11% | |
| 2020 | Biden | 53% | Trump | 47% | N/A | ||
Other Kid Elections
The "Scholastic Election" is another kids' election. It's run by Scholastic Corporation Scholastic News. They have done it every election year since 1940. They say they have guessed the real election winner correctly most of the time. But they were wrong when Harry S. Truman won in 1948. They were also wrong when John F. Kennedy won in 1960. And they were wrong when Donald Trump won in the 2016 United States presidential election.
Many schools also hold their own pretend elections. This helps students learn about the American democratic process. For example, in 2020, schools in Tennessee held a statewide mock election. The results were announced by the Tennessee Secretary of State. In that vote, Trump won with 52% of the votes. Joe Biden was second, and Kanye West got 10%.
