Thread: Obama and Paul Win MySpace Primaries

January 3, 2008 7:10 AM PST
Surprise! Barack Obama, Ron Paul win MySpace 'primaries'
Posted by Caroline McCarthy
Iowa what?

Amid the frenzied press coverage over Thursday's too-close-to-call caucuses in the Hawkeye State, 153,226 MySpace.com users have already cast their (unofficial) votes.

In a set of "virtual primaries" held on Tuesday and Wednesday, Republican Rep. Ron Paul and Democratic Sen. Barack Obama were declared the winners of the News Corp.-owned social-networking site's polls.

The poll was conducted entirely through MySpace's Impact political site. And for those who have been following Election 2008 on the Web, neither "victory" is particularly surprising.

On the Democratic side, MySpace users selected Obama nearly 2 to 1, with the Illinois senator taking 46 percent of the vote, followed by Hillary Clinton with 31 percent and then John Edwards with 8 percent. Obama's triumph among MySpace's young and tech-savvy user base is no surprise--he has proven a favorite among many young voters hoping for change, as well as a sizable portion of left-leaning geeks.

But in Thursday's Iowa caucuses, Obama doesn't enjoy such a clear advantage--the outcome remains too close to tell.

Ron Paul, however, is a different story. The Texas congressman is considered quite the long shot, failing to poll above more than a few percentage points nationwide. But his libertarian views and vocal opposition to the war in Iraq have found a welcome home on the Web, and MySpace is no exception. In the social network's virtual primaries, Paul won by an impressive margin with 37 percent of the vote, followed by more legitimate offline contenders Rudy Giuliani (18 percent) and Mike Huckabee (16 percent).

"Exit poll" questions in the MySpace primary revealed that 83 percent of participants plan to vote in their states' actual primaries, and 91 percent plan to vote in the general U.S. election. They also named the economy and jobs, the war in Iraq, and health care to be the three most important issues facing the country.

Representatives from the social network, which has launched an extensive youth-voting initiative and political awareness campaigns for the 2008 election, have stressed that the results of the primary represent the "MySpace generation," and consequently probably don't reflect the nation as a whole.

Additionally, it should be noted that while the poll was offered only to members of MySpace's main U.S. site (not its international editions), it did not require respondents to be of legal voting age. And while MySpace has said the average age of respondents is 29 years old, such a figure should be taken with a grain of salt because no age verification system was in place.

But when it comes to the political leanings of avid social network users, MySpace's results may not be far off base. Rival social network Facebook has also launched a politics site in conjunction with ABC News, and ongoing presidential-candidate polls show Obama and Paul as the front-runners there too.

http://www.news.com/the-social/8300-135 ... imary+2008

On the news yesterday it stated that Iowa has many independent voters. I am sure that there are many Republicans thinking of switching to being and independent voter, seeing that we fail to see the difference any longer between the parties. Ron Paul is really the only person who sticks out and he has refused to run as an independent if not put in the primaries. Vote now or forever hold your peace.
Another fact that needs to be considered is how strong the web has become in giving us the facts that the news stations are paid or threatened not to give us.

I just heard om MSNBC that Ron Paul is creating quite stir in Iowa. Also I was just reading on Politico.com about the Ron Paul blimp that will be floating over the East coast starting with New Hampshire. I think it would be foolhardy to underestimate this movement.

From your lips to God's ear ----

If we are going to accomplish anything in this country, we are going to have to do things differently. WE can't have the same old, same old and expect to get anything better.

Originally Posted by tinybobidaho

I just heard om MSNBC that Ron Paul is creating quite stir in Iowa. Also I was just reading on Politico.com about the Ron Paul blimp that will be floating over the East coast starting with New Hampshire. I think it would be foolhardy to underestimate this movement.

Ron Pauls Blimp was scheduled to be in Tampa FL today but was rescheduled for Friday because we are experiencing high winds today and Brrrr it is cold (58 degrees)

The Blimp flew over the Citrus Bowl New Years Day.

If you care to follow the Blimp and get up to date news about it go to www.ronpaulblimp.com

Ron Paul is last in the average of all the polls. Last I saw McCain, Romney, and Guliani were the top 3

Originally Posted by flashman

Ron Paul is last in the average of all the polls. Last I saw McCain, Romney, and Guliani were the top 3

Give it time. Ron Paul is on his way to the top. :P