American Idol Versus the Presidential Election Voter Turnout - Numbers Don't Lie

More people voted for the American Idol than the last president, right? That's what the advertisements and news headlines would like you to believe. However, the truth lies somewhere else. "The pop idol with more votes than any president" is what The Times called Taylor Hicks. The title is not incorrect, but it is slightly misleading. While it is true that both Taylor Hicks and Jordin Sparks received more votes than any president in history, it doesn't mean that more people voted for American Idol than President.

During the season finale, Hicks received nearly 64 million votes or, as the Times stated, "more votes than any US president has received." How could this happen? Are Americans values so screwed up that we care more about who becomes the next American Idol than who becomes president? Far from it. Let's review the facts.

America has a population that exceeds 301 million people. However, not all of these people are eligible to vote for the president. About 100 million are not eligible to vote in the United States due to age, residency, and criminal history restrictions. American Idol has no such restrictions. American Idol restricts its voters by two criteria--you have to have access to a phone and be able to dial a 10-digit number.

Another factor that affects the voting numbers is repeat voting. You are only allowed to vote once in a presidential election. Again, American Idol does not have that restriction. You can vote as many times as you want. Some voters have claimed to have voted 10, 20 even 100 times during the finale.

While Hicks' 64 million votes are higher than any received by a president, they are also significantly higher than American Idol viewers. According to the ratings, season five, which had the best ratings so far of any season, had ratings that averaged about 30 million viewers and peaked in its finale with approximately 37 million viewers. Jordin Sparks had even less votes, with only 30 million votes were cast during her finale.

About 120 million Americans voted in the last election. Already the number of voters exceeds the number of votes cast for the American Idol.

"Nearly one in 10 Americans have voted on this season of American Idol," according to ABC News. Yet over 60 percent of eligible voters cats ballots in the last presidential election. While 60 percent is not as high as it should be, it is much higher than 10 percent. Of course, the numbers are not exactly comparable--as one is talking about all Americans and the other is talking about eligible voters. Still, it is enough to give you an estimate of the truth. Americans find the presidential election much more important than American Idol.

If that is not enough proof, consider album sales. Of Taylor Hicks' 64 million votes, only 690,000 purchased copies of his album. Jordin Hicks has only sold about 407,000 copies of her album. While these numbers are not bad, neither suggest that they are as popular as advertisements and headlines suggest.

Millions of votes will be tallied on May 21, 2008, when this season's American Ido l wraps up. Of course, come November 4, millions more votes will be tallied. Will Obama, Clinton, or McCain receive more votes than American Idol? Time will tell. Will more people have voted in the presidential election than American Idol election? Without a doubt.

Sources:
'Idol' Voters Have Faith in Their Vote
http://abcnews.go.com/Entertainment/story?id=1923394

The pop idol with more votes than any president
http://entertainment.timesonline.co.uk/tol/arts_and_entertainment/article726750.ece

American Idol: Votes versus Album Sales
http://www.helium.com/items/789661-season-american-million-votes