Nickelodeon viewers 'vote' for Obama

NEW YORK, Oct. 21 (UPI) -- Sen. Barack Obama, D-Ill., has been declared the winner of the 2008 Kids Pick the President National Poll, Nickelodeon announced.

A record-setting number of votes -- upwards of 2.2 million -- were cast in the network's online poll.

Nickelodeon said it has held a kids' vote every presidential election year since 1988, and children have correctly predicted the winner in four out of the last five U.S. presidential campaigns.

This year, Obama received 51 percent or 1,167,087 votes, while Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., received 49 percent or 1,129,945 votes.

The Nickelodeon Kids Pick the President poll is not a scientific survey, the network said.

Kids were able to vote online on at http://www.nick.com/kpp, via Nick's mobile Web site or in Nicktropolis, Nickelodeon's virtual world destination, from Oct. 12-20.

"Nickelodeon has a long history of empowering kids and providing them with an opportunity to voice their opinions," Cyma Zarghami, president of Nickelodeon Kids and Family Group, said in a statement. "The Kids Pick the President campaign has introduced them to the voting process, and hopefully will make them want to be active participants when they are old enough to vote."

Linda Ellerbee, host of Nickelodeon's Nick News, announced the winner of this year's poll on Nickelodeon Monday.

"It's important to take note of who won the 'Kids' vote, simply because so many kids vote the way their parents will. But what really counts is this: they participated in democracy. They voted. How can this be anything but good?" Ellerbee said.