Surprise! Barack Obama, Ron Paul win MySpace 'primaries'

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.

[The_Decider]

Guiliani is a legitimate condender?

I guess you haven't been reading the news for the past month or two.

I thought his constant abuse of 9/11 was going to do him in, but was his lack of ethics and morals(common among repubs) that took him down. I think if it came down to it, even the hapless Paul would beat Rudy. In fact, from what I understand his numbers are higher then those for Guiliani.

http://www.desmoinesregister.com/apps/pbcs.dll/section?category=iowapoll07

[nedmorlef]

vote 4 those not chosen 4 u

I believe the best candidates for the job are the ones that are ignored by mainstream pundits.

Take Ron Paul for instance. He is the only candidate that doesn't think the constitution is outdated.
Vote for the others and live in Bushland for the rest of the country's existence.Which won't be long.

[nuckelhedd]

Caroline, Caroline, Caroline...

Why must you dribble your own mindless ideas into a story that is merely supposed to inform us of the My-Space poll. We don't need your Rupert Murdoch spin on this. Believe me , no one is basing their opinions on a My-Space poll. However it might come in handy later if more internet polls done by actual people taking actual information and being impartially reviewed can show that these aren't staged events. However rhetoric such as yours
"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)."
startle me.
Who gave you control over who gets labeled legitimate?
Back off you ignorant egotistic *****!
WHAT WE NEED LESS OF IS BIASED MEDIA SUCH AS YOURS
IF WE WANT YOUR OPINIONS WE"LL ASK FOR THEM!

I hope this clears up the inconsistencies in your *cough* "reporting"

Thanks from a veteran

[thomasdosborneii]

You nailed it

You nailed it, nuckelhedd--for so long these hacks have been
getting away with this stuff, but now thanks to the Internet we have
a much more informed and sophisticated citizenry.

[ethana2]

A little harsh, but... yeah...

Don't take it personally, but please do try a little harder to be neutral.

[chrisnpiggies]

'found a welcome home on the web'

found a welcome home on the web in Wii Land where the guitar heros throw their virtual support behind R.P. and B.O. (it's real people on the web, ya know). oh, and if you can type on a keyboard, that makes you tech savvy.

[thomasdosborneii]

MySpace Primary

Why on earth you did you say that Rudy Giuliani and Hickabee
were "more legitimate" candidates than Ron Paul, who polled
better than they did? Also, Ron Paul in one day pulled in more
donations than any other political candidate in the history of the
United States. Hum, let's see, more votes on the MySpace
"primary," more donations from the people than any other
candidate, looks like HE's the legitimate candidate for President
of the United States, not these others that you fascist news
organizations try to push on us. You're not a legitimate
journalist with such a bias showing like that and you definitely
should stop writing "news".

[JL Davis]

Go Ron Paul

Thanks so much for the chance to see that all Americans are not fooled by the 2-sided coin of the standard politics. Dr Ron Paul is the hope Americia has not in the previous 2 party ruled elections. They have made it so hard to see Dr Paul & you have proved that he is really there. If we push we can have the change he promises & regain the Americia we can be proud of. Go Ron Paul, spread the word !!!!!

[ethana2]

Yes.

But what if he loses as the republican party's presidential candidate and we split the vote? Decisions, decisions.

I have to say, Bush angered a lot of people and the republicans are probably going to lose anyway, so I'm likely to just give him all the support I can. I wasn't able to vote until recently, and voting for who I believe /should/ win gives me legitimate complaining rights.

[x646d63]

More Bias

If Ron Paul got even periodic fair treatment by the mass media there would be no question about who was going to win the election.

However, like usual, you try to marginalize him by calling him a long-shot, and calling his opponents "legitimate."

Of course "legitimate" Rudy didn't perform so well in Iowa. Maybe people have figured out he's a shill.

The establishment is scared. Ron Paul's support continues to grow even with the hindrance the mass media is creating by constantly marginalizing him and doing their best to link him with "bad people". Meanwhile, the uber-class choices continue to flail around making themselves sound like the idiots they are, and Rudy can't complete a sentence without trying to scare someone into voting for him.

We're tired of the media and the our elected followers trying to scare us. We don't believe the hype.

Let's focus on restoring the republic for a while, and vote Ron Paul.

[Tui Pohutukawa]

"More legitimate offline contenders"..?

The dictionary defines "legitimate" thusly: "Conforming to the law
or to rules".

How, exactly, do Giuliani and Huckabee conform more to the law
or to rules than Ron Paul? Is Caroline McCarthy aware of the
meaning of the word "legitimate", or is she simply trying to take a
cheap shot at Mr Paul?