Through the Peephole - Presidential Debate Deux

Mandy makes an excellent point about how our Presidential candidates are likely perceived by the American people:

Americans like pretty people. Dozens of studies have been done that show that we rate a person’s trustworthiness and overall judgment based on how we perceive their physical attractiveness. Obama is young and charismatic. McCain is not young, and while there is considerably CONSIDERABLY more substance to his speech, he does not possess the charisma that Obama does.

Coupled with the fact that Obama has launched a massive (and highly successful) digital campaign to build support among younger, connected, tech-savvy voters, and I’d say that her prediction is probably right. Check out Facebook, MySpace, and the iPhone/iPod App Store to see what I mean.

The thing with young voters is that they’re less likely to take part in - or be included in - public opinion polls, media-sponsored polls, and other forms of predictive sampling often used to gauge a candidate’s standing. But they’re out there commenting on Obama’s social networking pages, downloading his application to their iPhones and iPods, and throwing his link-building campaign logos all over their Facebooks, MySpaces, and blogs.

So when V-Day finally comes in November, I think Obama is going to grab even more of the pie than predictions are already calling for. And he knows that. Say what you will about his politics… but the man (or the people behind him) are brilliant campaign strategists.