{"80091":{"#nid":"80091","#data":{"type":"news","title":"John Kerry Wins Georgia Tech Web Site Poll","body":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003EJohn Kerry is the winner of Georgia Tech\u0027s Web site poll on the presidential race. Close to 29,000 votes were cast for one of three presidential candidates, George W. Bush, John Kerry or Ralph Nader, in the informal poll, known as Buzzpoll, on Georgia Tech\u0027s homepage, \u003Ca href=\u0022http:\/\/www.gatech.edu\u0022 title=\u0022www.gatech.edu\u0022\u003Ewww.gatech.edu\u003C\/a\u003E. Kerry edged out the incumbent Bush at the last minute with 14,522 votes to Bush\u0027s 12,944. Nader garnered 1,481 votes.\u003C\/p\u003E\n\u003Cp\u003E\u0022The poll is not scientific,\u0022 said Jeff Smith, web developer at Georgia Tech. \u0022It reflects people who have voted more than once.\u0022\n\u003C\/p\u003E\n\u003Cp\u003EStill, Buzzpoll, reflects the closeness of the presidential race, said Smith. That\u0027s because, in general, \u0022for every Kerry voter who voted more than once, we had a Bush voter who voted more than once,\u0022 he said.\n\u003C\/p\u003E\n\u003Cp\u003EThe presidential Buzzpoll made its debut on Georgia Tech\u0027s homepage on Thursday, October 21 and gathered 28,947 votes before closing on November 1. The week-and-a-half-contest was hotly contested throughout. \n\u003C\/p\u003E\n\u003Cp\u003E\u0022I\u0027ve seen the lead change at least seven or eight times,\u0022 said Smith. As the poll headed into its last day, Bush was up by close to 1,500 votes. By the end, Kerry had regained the lead.\n\u003C\/p\u003E\n\u003Cp\u003EDespite its informal tone, the poll was not without controversy. Smith received several emails concerning the absence of Libertarian candidate Michael Badnarik. Badnarik is on the ballot in Georgia, while Nader, who was included in Buzzpoll, is not on the ballot.\n\u003C\/p\u003E\n\u003Cp\u003E\u0022We considered candidates who we thought were going to have the strongest showing in the race,\u0022 said Smith. \u0022We included Nader because of his historical position as a spoiler in the presidential race. In hindsight, maybe we should have included the Libertarian candidate.\u0022\n\u003C\/p\u003E\n\u003Cp\u003EBuzzpoll is a new feature of Georgia Tech\u0027s newly redesigned homepage, which was launched August 25. The presidential poll was the ninth Buzzpoll and by far the most popular.\n\u003C\/p\u003E\n\u003Cp\u003E\u0022It was a poll that got a dramatic spike in interest and brought in a lot of visitors to Georgia Tech\u0027s Web site just so they could weigh in on a poll,\u0022 said Smith.\n\u003C\/p\u003E\n\u003Cp\u003EThe latest poll was launched today and asks voters whether the Electoral College should be replaced by direct voting.\n\u003C\/p\u003E","summary":null,"format":"limited_html"}],"field_subtitle":[{"value":"Unlike most things at Tech, poll is unscientific"}],"field_summary":[{"value":"Informal presidential poll is the most popular Buzzpoll since August debut.","format":"limited_html"}],"field_summary_sentence":[{"value":"Buzzpoll garners close to 29,000 responses."}],"uid":"27310","created_gmt":"2004-11-02 01:00:00","changed_gmt":"2016-10-08 03:01:05","author":"David Terraso","boilerplate_text":"","field_publication":"","field_article_url":"","dateline":{"date":"2004-11-02T00:00:00-05:00","iso_date":"2004-11-02T00:00:00-05:00","tz":"America\/New_York"},"extras":[],"hg_media":{"80101":{"id":"80101","type":"image","title":"Tech Tower","body":null,"created":"1449178071","gmt_created":"2015-12-03 21:27:51","changed":"1475894693","gmt_changed":"2016-10-08 02:44:53"}},"media_ids":["80101"],"groups":[{"id":"1214","name":"News Room"}],"categories":[],"keywords":[],"core_research_areas":[],"news_room_topics":[],"event_categories":[],"invited_audience":[],"affiliations":[],"classification":[],"areas_of_expertise":[],"news_and_recent_appearances":[],"phone":[],"contact":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003EGeorgia Tech Media Relations\u003C\/strong\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003ELaura Diamond\u003Cbr \/\u003E\u003Ca href=\u0022mailto:laura.diamond@comm.gatech.edu\u0022\u003Elaura.diamond@comm.gatech.edu\u003C\/a\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E404-894-6016\u003Cbr \/\u003EJason Maderer\u003Cbr \/\u003E\u003Ca href=\u0022mailto:maderer@gatech.edu\u0022\u003Emaderer@gatech.edu\u003C\/a\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E404-660-2926\u003C\/p\u003E","format":"limited_html"}],"email":["david.terraso@comm.gatech.edu"],"slides":[],"orientation":[],"userdata":""}}}