Xbox Live US presidential election poll results

by Alexander Sliwinski { Nov 4th 2008 at 3:20PM }

Following up on some presidential election polling results from September, Microsoft has revealed the results of its Xbox Live polling from the Halloween weekend. Obama jumped 10%, garnering 53% of the vote, while McCain gained two points for 33%, with 14% still undecided. Curiously, the Xbox Live poll had a similar Obama result to one done by CNN that same weekend.

On the "issues poll" conducted at the same time, "jobs and the economy" took the top spot with 35%. Meanwhile, education, environment, health care and foreign policy all received percentages in the mid- to high-teens. Microsoft notes that as part of the "Rock the Vote" campaign, a million pieces of election-specific materials were downloaded from Live, along with 80,000 voter registration forms. And, once again, don't forget to vote today!

Tags: election-2008, election-day, poll, polling, polls, rock-the-vote, united-states-of-america, usa, xbox-live

Reader Comments (Page 1 of 2)

Sackolantern PSN ID: johnnynumber5 @ Nov 4th 2008 3:24PM

Can't wait for all the comments about a liberal media bias at CNN. I'm sure CNN is shaping popular opinion by fudging it's poll results.

Marty @ Nov 4th 2008 3:44PM

CNN's been pretty careful about this lately, I think. The last few weeks leading up to the elections have put a heavy emphasis on McCain.

Luckily, there's always websites out there that will do a better job than the commercial sites when we need 'em to. fivethirtyeight.com has juggled all the stats, and is giving Obama a 98.67% chance of winning the election.

That matters not though, if you don't get out and vote! So if you haven't yet, pick yourself up off the couch, turn off the games for a few minutes, and for the sake of all our futures, go vote! It doesn't take long, you'll meet some interesting people, and you'll get to help flex the collective strength of the nation.

I did!

Obama / Biden '08

tmacairjordan87 @ Nov 4th 2008 3:48PM

If there's 1 thing I've learned about the democrats though these last 8 years is they could have a 100% chance to win and still find a way to lose, so I'm still extremely worried.

BananaBoat @ Nov 4th 2008 4:22PM

I'm worried that so many people are dumb enough to use rock the vote and similar services. All they do (literally...all they do) is take your personal information so that they can sell it, and then they input that information onto a form you could have gotten from the library, or printed from your states website and entered yourself. Basically it's preying on people that are too dumb to know that registering to vote is simple, and that you don't need Rock the Vote to do it. Hell, I didn't even have to fill out a form. When I renewed my drivers license, the lady asked "would you like to register to vote?" and she clicked a button on the computer and blammo, I was registered to vote. Keep your private information to yourselves people (especially your social...there is no reason to trust any website with your freaking SSN)

I'm not watching CNN, or any TV for that matter, till the election special with Brian Williams at 7. I don't want to hear about screwy electronic voting machines, or long lines (thankfully I didn't run into any lines. It took me all of five minutes to vote).

Cash @ Nov 4th 2008 4:48PM

CNN has been getting better, but MSNBC is still a joke. When you have 70% positive stories about Obama, but only 23% positive stories about McCain 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, it's going to have an impact. If that statement is false or conservative hype, then why the hell do people advertise as obviously, repetitive information (be it true or false) has no effect on people whatsoever right? I guess liberals never had to deal with highschool rumors either.

sk8monroe81 @ Nov 4th 2008 4:58PM

the media is either liberal or conservative.
fox is republican.
FAIR AND BALANCED.
that is where the balance is, you have to switch between the stations to get both extremes..
did anybody catch that slip up by sheppard on fox news when he thought the camera was off??

TwEE @ Nov 4th 2008 5:54PM

Fox is propaganda bullshit..

And CNN liberal?!? HA! They are a business, they're trying to sell you soap. They go where the money is, if it'll make them more money reporting on how cute kittens are thats what they'll do.

They are not two opposing ends of a spectrum, so the truth dose not lie somewhere between them.

BigD145 @ Nov 4th 2008 8:08PM

@Cash
McCain hasn't done too many positive things, so it's no surprise that MSNBC has a swing in one direction. What are they going to do, make it 50/50 and cut out 1/2 of the Obama stories? Add more advertising to make up for time lost?

Trickob @ Nov 4th 2008 3:25PM

Obama for the win!!!

Peace

Marty @ Nov 4th 2008 3:45PM

I'll second that.

Anticrawl @ Nov 4th 2008 4:58PM

I'm curious to hear exactly why you voted for Obama. Most people don't know why they voted for whichever candidate they voted, just went for or against the media flow without any real knowledge of what was happening or what either candidate stood for.

BananaBoat @ Nov 4th 2008 5:13PM

One candidate had immediate plans to tax health benefits for the first time ever, then to use the money to pay for a $5,000 per person tax credit so that they can go out and get joke insurance. I read somewhere that the average cost of a health insurance plan for a family of four is $12,000, and that particular candidate thinks it's a brilliant idea to penalize those families that have insurance, to help those that don't get ridiculously ineffective health insurance. Not only that, but that credit would immediately put millions (if not billions) of tax payer dollars into the hands of insurance companies, so that they can turn around and deny claims since, well, you know, the people are only on five thousand dollar plans. Complete and total idiocy. Not that it's the only issue that swayed my vote, but the idea that the candidate would put millions into the insurance industries pockets under the guise of helping people is offensive. Either fully nationalize health care, or don't. Don't try to half-ass it and cost us millions of dollars in the process.

I'd say who has this plan, but polls are nearly closed, and I believe that people should keep their political leanings to themselves anyway.

BananaBoat @ Nov 4th 2008 5:14PM

That the uninsured* can go out rather.

Haggard @ Nov 4th 2008 6:14PM

The european point of view:

One candidate's a conservative.

The other's a fascist.

SKI @ Nov 4th 2008 6:35PM

I voted Obama because a Palin presidency would destroy America. McCain is just too close to dying for me to feel safe.

Trickob @ Nov 4th 2008 6:40PM

I honestly don't pay much attention to the media because, as a liberal, I know a liberal bias when I see it. Not that I watch Fox since I definitely don't care for a conservative slant either.

I just voted for the guy with the big "D" next to his name on the ballot. ;)

rooshma @ Nov 4th 2008 6:49PM

I voted for Stephen Harper... oh wait.

Yeah, we do have a government up here; you probably haven't heard, but we had an election!

(time between calling of election and election day: 5 weeks)

Trickob @ Nov 4th 2008 9:08PM

Canada, you used to be cool. Then you elected a douche bag to PM in 2006 and then a conservative majority parliament this year.

rooshma @ Nov 4th 2008 11:43PM

Nice of you to say so. At least you've heard of Canadian politics, several of my American relatives haven't heard of any of the candidates. Just to point out, it's still a Conservative minority, just a stronger minority. Though I respect your opinion about being liberal, the Liberals haven't really had any sort of good party leader

xFenixKnightx @ Nov 4th 2008 3:28PM

Watch the Cole Train drill the shizz outta Palin :D

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=07kO9TtHYzQ

WOOWOOOOOO!! Looks like that time, it wasn't a smooth ride. lol

tmacairjordan87 @ Nov 4th 2008 3:36PM

Hahaha that was pure awesome.

xFenixKnightx @ Nov 4th 2008 3:39PM

"Hey Katie!" lol!

Love it!

Sackolantern PSN ID: johnnynumber5 @ Nov 4th 2008 3:41PM

Hilarious!

Marty @ Nov 4th 2008 3:44PM

"How's that for 'drill baby, dill'?!"

Cubfan786 @ Nov 4th 2008 4:13PM

I felt that all the way from Jordan.
Man, "No governers were harmed in the production of this ad"
HILARIOUS

Hala Madrid!! (Spaniards for ObamaBiden08) @ Nov 4th 2008 5:49PM

HAHAHAHA! He'll probably kill McCain if he does that to him.

Bitch got pwned!

Draco @ Nov 4th 2008 3:29PM

it looks liek all the undecided vote went to McCain (but it doesnt matter because Obama is >50%). Once people find out there wont be cake for all, then things will go sour.

swmarc @ Nov 4th 2008 3:33PM

I Voted...

Maverick Saturn @ Nov 4th 2008 3:33PM

Can't wait for this all to end, at the same time I'm, all for Obama's win :D Dunno who I know who isn't :D

Kevin PSN: Keviseg15 @ Nov 4th 2008 3:36PM

Excellent.

http://api.ning.com/files/1odFj7TPGiY0J5*sd5GgXh43npUPFjIR*593dVLIJ1Iyzgn4WiPWe1NTHFaENps2e6vtz6uFhywO4qyt8dm0W26w1WS4LS*Y/BurnsExcellentSticker.jpg

Obama will get shot if he wins
McCain will die of a heart attack if he wins

Its a loss/loss election here.

T @ Nov 4th 2008 3:45PM

You realize that joking about something like an assassination isn't really that funny, right?

Especially if you consider the kind of outrage that would come if the first minority President was assassinated...both at home and abroad.

j @ Nov 4th 2008 4:50PM

I thought there was enough outrage of Obama RUNNING for president.

No matter who wins, there will be a shitstorm to follow.

Sircolby45 @ Nov 4th 2008 4:54PM

I laughed.

ryan @ Nov 4th 2008 5:27PM

My friend said the same exact thing.

And the thing that worries me even more is who we have to count on to replace them: Tweedle Dee or Tweedle Dum.

john paul @ Nov 4th 2008 7:37PM

If Obama dies Biden becomes president.
If McCain dies Palin becomes president.

conor @ Nov 5th 2008 10:59PM

Umm... Kennedy was catholic if that counts.

Nter @ Nov 4th 2008 3:36PM

I gotta say that CNN (and all media for that matter) are really trying to sway public opinion by constantly talking about Obama and his past history. He's a great guy but it's getting annoying.

It's really unfair for McCain.

Btw, I'm in the Undecided minority.

&rew @ Nov 4th 2008 3:44PM

There is only one place you need to go to get almost unbiased election coverage, Comedy Central.

Marty @ Nov 4th 2008 3:46PM

CNN has been very conservative lately in the lead-up to the elctions... not sure what you're been reading, but almost every article I've read on the site in the last week or so has been either extremely neutral, or in defense of McCain.

The Fatass of Kickassness @ Nov 4th 2008 3:47PM

I don't think they're actively trying to sway opinions, but yeah, Obama's been getting more coverage. Which isn't that big of a deal to me since for every piece of news I see about Obama I see about three hundred horseshit anti-Obama ads inbetween.

Invisible Robot Meat @ Nov 4th 2008 8:02PM

@ Marty: Extremely neutral? Wow. You cant get more neutral than that!

T @ Nov 4th 2008 3:44PM

Wow, an XBL poll shows Obama in front. Good to know he's secured the Foul-Mouthed Tweeners Who Can't Actually Vote demographic.

DangerMouse @ Nov 4th 2008 3:57PM

The same one's who squeak out racial profanities?

Snowblind @ Nov 4th 2008 4:35PM

Come on. The XBL community is no worse than any other community. Spend five minutes on an MMO, or a message board and you'll meet just as many kids trying to act tough or cool.

The only difference is the ease of voice communication, everyone can do it with an Xbox can do it.