US Elections: Better The Devil You Know

It seems the US Presidential election has been on a knife edge for weeks now. With November 6^th looming polling is showing the smallest of margins between Donald Trump and Kamala Harris. As a generation that will no doubt be impacted by the result, we took the vote to kids via our bespoke Beano Brain Omnibus surveying kids aged 7 – 14.

We asked: “If you could vote for president, who would you choose?” and the results may surprise you.

With just over 1,000 kids responding and given a range of options including some celebrities and influencers Trump topped the politicians' poll with 18% of kids saying they would vote for him. That compares with 12% for Kamala Harris and 11% for Barack Obama.

And yet as discussed in our other article, Trump is a divisive figure. Kids (like adults) do not necessarily agree with his politics or behaviours. So what’s going on?

Perhaps the answer lies in our recent past. Donald Trump has consistently been the most mentioned person amongst kids in our longitudinal panels in the US AND the UK. He hit their consciousness as his bid for the White House gained traction in 2017 and has been top-of-mind with kids for 7+ years outperforming music stars, sports celebrities and influencers when it comes to consistent visibility. Gen Alpha, first born in 2010 has never really known a world without Donald Trump.

Kids may not agree with his views, but they have developed their own sense of who he is. The same cannot be said of Kamala Harris, a late entrant to the race. We don’t know what the result of November’s election will be but it does seem for kids and teens it may be a case of better the devil you know.

If you’d like to know who competes with Donald Trump as a candidate for the Presidency according to our Beano Brain omnibus, get in touch. We love to share!