Updated: Analysis on the Candidates (Poll)

Many things have changed since the debut of the first candidate polls on December 1st. With the speeches of the candidates, the students of 7th period have had the opportunity to decide who they actually support based on the candidates’ policies, platforms and speeches, rather than personal connections or reputations.

In the lead, Nevins continues to dominate the election, with 141 of the necessary 163 electoral votes, and 50 % of the popular vote, having recruited 25 more electoral and 3 more popular votes since our last poll. Nevins found newfound support from Hawaii (4 votes), Rhode Island (4 votes), New Mexico (5 votes), Georgia (16 votes), and Texas A (19 votes), but did lose New Jersey (14) and South Carolina (9) to Belikow and Bjornlund, respectively.

Belikow has replaced Rothschild as Nevins’ runner up in the electoral college, though interestingly, all his previous supporters (Hawaii, Rhode Island, and Alabama) were lost to other candidates, while snatched New Jersey’s votes away from Nevins and captured the favor of Illinois (20 votes) and North Carolina (15 votes), both previously undecided.

While bumped to third in the electoral college by an 18 point difference, Bjornlund actually beats Belikow in the popular vote by one vote. Bjornlund has 4 popular votes: South Carolina, Wisconsin, Vermont and Alabama; all of which he converted from supporting other candidates.

In a surprising turn of events, Rothschild, who came in second in our last poll, and Gordy both currently have no votes. Rothschild lost Vermont and Wisconsin to Bjornlund, Georgia to Nevins, and Minnesota’s delegate never voted--which might suggest low political efficacy. Meanwhile Gordy lost his only supporter, Iowa, who this time around polled as undecided, with the delegate claiming he/she is torn between Gordy and Rothschild. It looks like these candidates have even more work to catch up and to persuade the voters.

This leaves us with the undecided voters: California B is still up to be claimed, as well as Arkansas, Iowa and Michigan. These voters were either torn between two candidates or they felt that the candidates have similar policies in some way. All candidates, even Nevins, should be aware that these swing states could be crucial to achieving the necessary 163 votes to win the election. Their support could make or break a campaign.