Apple and tree: Kids pretty much mock-voted how their parents voted ...

Jeremy Olson writes about children and families, and is an overscheduled father of two. His blog tackles the best and worst of parenting, families, health and love. He wants to hear from you - what's going on in your house?

Apple and tree: Kids pretty much mock-voted how their parents voted ...

Posted by: Jeremy Olson Updated: November 9, 2012 - 3:40 PM

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When it comes to politics, I'm interested whether kids develop views that are aligned with their parents' views, or whether they rebel and vote their own ways. The message from the 2012 Kids Voting results: the apple doesn't fall far from the tree. At least not in Minnesota!

Below are preliminary results from communities that participated in the Kids Voting USA program on the marriage amendment question, along with the actual adult vote results in their respective counties.

In most cases, the kids' results were within a percentage point or two of the adult votes in their counties. There were exceptions. Kids in Ely voted for the amendment, even though the majority of adults in St. Louis County were against it. Similarly, Prior Lake kids cast mock votes that were different from the real votes in Scott County. (The contradictions held even when comparing the kids' votes with results at the municipality level.)

Even with these outliers, it is interesting to see such uniformity in other areas on such a sensitive political issue!

KIDS VOTE RESULTS	Yes	No	Yes%	COUNTY VOTE RESULTS	Yes%
ACGC	77	38	66.96%	Meeker	64.47%
Albany	104	98	51.49%	Stearns	53.03%
Brainerd	377	312	54.72%	Crow Wing	59.75%
Edina	422	1650	20.37%	Hennepin	35.05%
Ely	76	39	66.09%	St. Louis	44.96%
Esko	205	231	47.02%	Carlton	51.94%
Kelliher	73	70	51.05%	Beltrami	51.08%
Minneapolis	2752	5935	31.68%	Hennepin	35.05%
Mounds View	157	267	37.03%	Ramsey	36.61%
North Branch	86	70	55.13%	Chisago	56.85%
Prior Lake	825	662	55.48%	Scott	48.93%
Shakopee	735	842	46.61%	Scott	48.93%
Sleepy Eye	137	57	70.62%	Brown	66.84%
St. Paul	2576	4766	35.09%	Ramsey	36.61%
Upsala	111	50	68.94%	Morrison	67.86%
Virginia	449	386	53.77%	St. Louis	44.96%
WEM	150	175	46.15%	Le Sueur	57.57%
TOTALS	9312	15648