Settle A Bet: Would American Idol Get More Votes Than Presidential Elections?

Help us settle a bet: if it were as restrictive to vote for American Idol as it is for President of the United States, which do you think you and other Americans would be more likely to cast a ballot for?

The topic came up between Patch local editors Andrew Dana Hudson and Alyssa Stahr at our weekly team meeting on Monday, on the eve of President Barack Obama's State of the Union Address. Stahr argued that Americans are more engaged in their favorite reality talent contests—American Idol, Dancing with the Stars, etc.—than in national politics, and pointed to numbers showing that more votes were cast over the course of the 2008 season of American Idol than in the 2008 presidential election. I countered that this was only because Idol empowered voters (including those under 18) to cast more than one ballot, from their home, over the course of several days.

If the two systems were equalized, however, which would get more attention from the populous? Imagine if it were as hard to vote for your favorite potential pop star as it is for a presidential candidate. What about if we adopted the American Idol system in our political races?

So we thought we would turn to our trusty Patch readers to help us settle this argument. Vote in the poll above and let us know which contest gets you more engaged. The winning Patch editor gets a bottle of wine to uncork for the media spectacle of their choosing.