The children of America have picked the President!

I remember, as a little pre-trailing spouse version of myself, having a class vote for the 1984 Presidential election. I voted for Reagan, just like most of the adults in America did that year. It had nothing to do with the state of the country or my parents' political tastes. No, my excuse was that I had no idea who Mondale was. That, and I was only a 6-year-old at the time and Reagan's face was everywhere.

My incident of child politics was nothing but a exercise my elementary school did for entertainment. I believe Reagan ended up winning in a landslide.

Oddly, I don't remember doing another mock election in that school.

However, I'm sure many schools around the country will be holding youth elections in upcoming weeks. And, many of the adult teachers will probably grimace when their favorite little tyke votes against their favorite candidate. But, they'll just let it go and move on, knowing that the election was nothing more than a silly game the class played together.

Scholastic, on the other hand, takes the job of the "child vote" very seriously. They poll children all over the country for their mock elections, and this year received over 250,000 responses.

Polls closed on October 10th. Paper and electronic ballots were counted.

And the winner, with 57% of the vote, was . . .

Barack Obama!

John McCain received 39% of the votes cast by the youths. 

That other 4%? Those votes went to a range of people, from Stephen Colbert to Miley Cyrus.

I'm interested to see if this election reflects how us adults will be voting three weeks from today. I have to assume children are directly influenced by their parents, though, like my 1984 vote for Reagan, sometimes the more popular face wins out with young minds.

But, more than anything, I'd really like to see the voting records for the parents of the kids who voted for Stephen Colbert.

Visit scholastic.com to read all about their election coverage.