Lasso Online Mock Election
Kerry Beats Bush by over 2 to 1 Margin

Compiled by Lasso Online Staff Members (October 27, 2004)

By an over two to one margin--61.6 percent to 23.6 percent--Senator John Kerry beat President Bush in a mock election sponsored by this newspaper and that was held Tuesday, October 26, precisely one week before the national election. Independent candidate Ralph Nader garnered 14.6 percent. Nearly 74 percent of Mason students in all grades participated in the voting.

In the balloting, which took place in all Teacher Advisor groups, Kerry tallied 302 of the 409 votes cast. Bush received 116 votes and Nader a somewhat surprising 72 votes. There are 660 students in all four classes in Mason.

The mock election results stand in sharp contrast to recent national polls that show Kerry and Bush in a virtual dead heat heading into next Tuesday’s presidential election. In addition, Nader’s over 14 percent tally dwarves his one to four percent in national polls.

The senior class gave Kerry the largest margin of votes, 70 percent to Bush’s 16 percent.  The juniors voted 62 percent for Kerry, the freshmen 59 percent, and the sophomores 57 percent. The sophomore class had the highest support for President Bush, 34 percent.

The freshman class gave Nader his highest total of 29 votes or nearly 20 percent of freshman votes cast. Nader received 15 percent of votes cast by juniors and seniors, but only seven percent of those cast by sophomores.

Broken down by sex, Kerry’s vote counts were 43.7 percent from males and 56.3 percent from females, a trend that is reflected in national polls. Slightly over 54 percent of Bush’s vote came from male voters, with 45.7 percent female. Vote totals included 142 ninth graders, 129 sophomores, 110 juniors, and 109 freshmen.

Over 30 ballots that included write-ins of fellow classmates, etc., were not counted.