The University Times conducted a poll today via Instagram stories asking our audience who they believe will win the U.S. Presidential election.
The poll found that the majority of respondents believed that Kamala D. Harris will win the presidential election race, with 117 participants selecting the option that Harris would win the race.
25 poll participants selected the option that Donald J. Trump would win the presidential election race. 45 respondents selected that they were unsure who would win the presidential race.
187 respondents took part in the poll that was open for three and a half hours, from approximately 2 p.m. until 5. 30 p.m. sharp.
140 respondents identified themselves as students, while twenty respondents identified as alumni, with one respondent disclosing that they were an educator. Ten respondents disclosed that they were not represented by any of the above categories. Six respondents who participated in the election poll did not select any option identifying their status as student, alumni, educator, or something that was not represented by these groups (listed as an “Other” option).
Gender and location demographics
According to Instagram business insights, The University Times’ Instagram following is made up of 53% of accounts who are deemed to be from Dublin. 66.7% of followers are from Ireland, 9.1% are from the United Kingdom, and 6.9% are from the U.S. Other countries that represent where The University Times followers come from are 1% or smaller.
In terms of gender, approximately 61% of The University Times following is made up of women, while 39% of the following is male. Non-binary genders are not recorded in The University Times’ business insights.
It is unclear how the Instagram algorithm determines factors of age, location, or gender.
Age
37% of The University Times’ audience is between the ages of 18-24, with a further 37% falling into the age category of 25-34. Approximately 16% of the Instagram audience is over 34 years of age (with 0.2% of the audience considered to be under eighteen). However, it is unclear if those who took part in the poll make up the typical demographic of the overall following of The University Times or if respondents on Instagram reliably disclose their age, gender, or location to Instagram.
Students await results
This evening, students will gather in the GMB to watch the election through the night in an election “lock-in” organised by the Hist, the Phil and Politics Society (PolSoc). The lock-in will take place between 9 p.m. until 5 a.m. The election may take several days to be called; in 2020, final results in favour of President Joe Biden were not announced until the Saturday following the election.
