Election Day: Obama or Romney?
Everyone seems to have their opinion on election day topics, namely Obama or Romney in 2012, but it isn’t as often we see tech-focused websites weighing in. But over the last few days, that’s exactly what we’ve seen from some of our favorite online publications.
Take PandoDaily for example, whose Farhad Manjoo recently published an article titled “If you care about the tech industry, vote for Obama.” Candidate aside, the title seems a bit inflammatory, suggesting if you don’t agree with the author’s political views you’ll be to blame for the downfall of our beloved gadgetry and the software we adore. In many ways, it mirrors the counter-productive public discourse of elections past, where it became “Un-American” to support one idea or candidate versus another.
Then there’s the more objective approach taken by The Verge, who offer a comprehensive comparison of all 4 candidates (yes, 4) on all issues tech. The piece is by T.C. Stottek and definitely worth reading.
That being said, last month we published an app called Vote 2012. The app is part of VoteBot.com, which in the coming weeks and months will transform into a more full featured and robust voting app/site covering a wide variety of topics. For now (you can still download and vote) you’re offered three options: Obama, Romney, or other. The app offers an (incredibly) unscientific attempt to see how Android fans would steer the election. Again, I’m keeping opinions out of it, but thought it would be fun to report some of the results thus far. Rather than update you again on Phandroid, check VoteBot.com tomorrow (and in the days/weeks to come) for updates.
First of all, as it currently stands, Barack Obama would be our President for the next 4 years if the Vote 2012 popular vote was the deciding factor.
It’s interesting to note that immediately following the app’s launch, Mitt Romney was the leading candidate according to Vote 2012. The following two debates triggered a shift in Obama’s favor and that shift hasn’t since tilted towards Romney. That being said, we’re keeping our polls open until 10pm so anything could happen.
Above it’s visualized by the percentage change over time, but if you’d also like to see the consistency by number of votes cast each day, we’ve got that below:
Of course the actual election isn’t determined by popular vote but by the Electoral College. From much of the discussion I’ve heard, Florida, Ohio, and Virginia look to be 3 key states in ultimately determining the victor. Unfortunately, a very limited number of Vote 2012’s entire votership chose to anonymously offer demographic info, so the following state-by-state comparisons have quite a small sample size. But hey- this is simply a fun and unscientific exercise in the first place.
Florida Polls
Ohio Polls
Virginia Polls
So it seems barring any last day Romney surge, according to the unscientific “Vote 2012” app, Android fans would decisively elect Obama as their next President. Romney is however the favorite or tied for the favorite in 16 out of 50 states and many of the states have a narrow gap. Meanwhile, other unscientific poll outcomes are picking Romney, for example the oh-so-accurate Washington Redskins Rule picked Romney to win this election.
It’s kind of funny to speak about politics and sports in the same breath. In both cases, it seems that most spectators are unable to separate the “who do you want to win?” from the “who do you think will win?” In the case of Obama vs. Romney, many scientific polls are calling it too close to call. But just as with the presidential debates, adamant supporters of each side felt their guy won the matchup handily. While the debates and Facebook statuses are relegated to opinion, tonight will see an actual outcome.
So who do you WANT to win? Who do you THINK will win? Are they one and the same?
Download Vote 2012 for the last chance to voice your opinion and see what others are saying at VoteBot.com! And please, for the sake of my outlook on humanity, keep things respectful and civil!