Putting a cup on it

US: Do you like your coffee blue or red? By choosing the colour of your coffee cup in 7-Eleven stores in America, you will be taking part in one of the most unscientific and yet accurate election polls the US has seen in the last three elections.

Customers take part in the poll by pouring their coffee into either a blue cup for Barack Obama or a red one for John McCain. The cups also have the names of the candidates on them. Undecided customers can choose unmarked cups.

The poll, started by 7-Eleven just for fun, has produced results closely mirroring the official surveys by the country’s top ten political pollsters. In 2000, only one percentage point separated the cup-counts of the current president, George Bush, and Democratic nominee Al Gore. And in 2004, President Bush “out-cupped” Senator John Kerry 51 per cent to 49 per cent.

“When 7-Eleven first held its 7-Election eight years ago, it had no idea what the final results would be or how popular the poll cup would become,” says 7-Eleven president and CEO Joe DePinto. “While we don’t bill this as a statistically valid study by any means, it does reach Americans in their hometowns, on their way to work, after school, or just going about their everyday lives. 7-Election provides an interesting snapshot of the election.”

Check out the 7-Election results: www.7-election.com/