Montana Goes Deep Red in Election Results – from Students
Montana students reelected President Donald Trump and Senator Steve Daines by a wide margin on Thursday, as the Secretary of State and Office of Public Instruction released the results of the annual youth vote.
Superintendent of Public Instruction Elsie Arntzen explained.
“Kids voiced their future,” said Arntzen. “It's what this election is about. It's about our student's future. It’s been a mock election that's gone on for decades, and it's in state law that there is a partnership between the Secretary of State's office and the Office of Public Instruction. Last cycle, which was four years ago, it was first time it went digital. 4,500 students participated this year in a very virtual manner.”
Arntzen said all school children participated in the mock election.
“It was quite interesting, you know, kindergarten through sixth grade just votes for President, and then there's some other fun options that they also can partake in, but this one is seventh grade to 12th, and pretty much it went red, and not only did it go red, but there was quite a large disparity between the two different parties.”
Arntzen described her reasoning for the majority Republican vote.
“The only thing that I can think of, putting my teacher hat on and looking at this information, is there's a lot of talk around the kitchen table,” she said. “It could also be the advent of social media, because we know a lot of students have cell phones and that aspect might be there as well, or maybe they just understand some of these issues. So, I’m really proud of the kids in Montana, that they know conservative values are values in Montana, and I was just really pleased to see that it went off without a hitch.”
The grownups get their results on Tuesday night, however, as the press release stated; ‘Youth Election results were a spot-on predictor for candidate wins in 2016. All but one candidate chosen by the youth election were the winners of the 2016 general election, and that incorrect prediction was only by a handful of votes.’
Find the full results below:
HELENA, MT-- The Montana Youth Vote 2020 held its election today in many schools throughout Montana, and election results were finalized at 4:00 p.m. This year, the Youth Vote Election polled two demographics. Grades K-6 voted for the President and other age appropriate questions. Grades 7-12 voted on the full Montana state and federal ballot, including ballot initiatives. In the upper grade election, students were given the Voter Information Pamphlet and information about the candidates so they could be well versed in their choices before voting. Approximately 4,500 students from Montana schools participated in the election.
Results are as follows (in order of percentage of votes):
President: Secretary of State:
Donald Trump (R) 63.51%
Joseph R Biden (D) 29.21% Christi Jacobsen (R) 67.77%
Jo Jorgensen (L) 7.28% Bryce Bennett (D) 32.23%
US Senate: Attorney General:
Steve Daines (R) 55.80% Austin Knudsen (R) 50.15%
Steve Bullock (D) 44.20% Raph Graybill (D) 49.85%
US House: State Auditor:
Matt Rosendale (R) 61.38% Troy Downing (R) 58.77%
Kathleen Williams (D) 38.62% Shane A Morigeau (D) 32.05%
Roger Roots (L) 9.18%
Governor: Supt of Public Instruction:
Greg Gianforte (R) 55.71% Elsie Arntzen (R) 49.75%
Mike Cooney (D) 30.31% Melissa Romano (D) 38.93%
Lyman Bishop (L) 13.98% Kevin Leatherbarrow (L) 11.32%
Supreme Court Justice #5 Supreme Court Justice #6
Laurie McKinnon 51.77% Jim Shea – Retain 79.30%
Mike Black 48.23% - Not Retain 20.70%
Constitutional Amendment C-46 Constitutional Amendment C-47
Yes 68.24% Yes 67.14%
No 31.76% No 32.86%
Constitutional Initiative CI-118 Legislative Referendum No 130
Yes 60.52% Yes 51.09%
No 39.48% No 48.91%
Initiative No. 190
Yes 57.73%
No 42.27%
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