Mitt Romney was doing much better down on Wall Street than at a West Village polling site, fourth graders discovered Tuesday in their exit polls.
“It was mostly Obama in the first [West Village] location,” said Alexa, 9, a fourth grade student who was surveying voters on the street for the Little Red School House in the Village. “It’s more Romney down here.”
Asked why she thought President Obama was getting less support in Lower Manhattan, she said, “Maybe people in different locations have different views.”
Her classmate and partner from Battery Park City, Aidhan, 9, was finding much the same thing. He was also discovering something that many a reporter has learned on a chilly election day — that it can be difficult to get voters to talk.
“Some of them said, ‘private,’” he explained.
His teacher, Ella Moran, helped organize the poll. Later in the day the students were going to have their own election to see which Hurricane Sandy relief charity would benefit from a student fundraiser.
Alexa, a thoughtful girl who expressed sympathy when she heard the Downtown Express office had been flooded, was also pleased to hear she looked to be 9 since she is often mistaken for a second grader. Told that she may reach an age where she wished to be younger, she had a quick reply: “I know, I know.”
—Josh Rogers
