History
The specials began in 1988 as part of a yearly "Kids Vote" election-related coverage, in part as a way to encourage children in Nickelodeon's audience to become engaged in the political process, and partly for comedic value.
The 1992 election was sponsored by Target Corporation, and promoted by newspaper advertisements. Children voted in-person at Target's stores, which were used as polling stations.
In the 1996 election, conducted by televote, children picked Bill Clinton over Bob Dole and Ross Perot.
In the 2000 poll, 400,000 people participated via an 800 number. Both Al Gore and George W Bush made campaign appearances at the Nickelodeon studios.
In 2004, Nickelodeon promoted the event with interstitials throughout its regular programming, features in Nickelodeon Magazine, online activities, and a book. Both John Kerry and George W. Bush declined to appear, stating they were too busy. The results were announced by Linda Ellerbee on U-Pick Live. Kerry received 57 percent of the vote; President Bush got 43 percent. Thus far it has been the only vote in which Kids Pick the President did not correctly predict the actual election results.
In 2008, 2.2 million people participated in the event. Both major candidates participated, and filmed television commercials promoting the event. Participants were allowed to vote, without any voter eligibility or verification, on a non-partisan page of Nickelodeon's website that outlined the candidates' positions on various issues. Barack Obama received 51 percent (1,167,087 votes), and John McCain received 49 percent (1,129,945 votes). Linda Ellerbee announced the results live again in 2008.
In 2012 Obama won with 65% of the vote over Republican challenger Mitt Romney. Obama agreed to appear on the Nick News election special to give taped responses to participants' questions; Romney declined the invitation.
Read more about this topic: Kids Pick The President
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