Dem
51
GOP
49
The first round of voting in our new tracking poll is complete, and there was a surprise or two. Before we reveal the results, recall that we make no claims this is scientific, per se. That is, we made no effort to ensure that the responses match the demographics of the expected electorate. What we are seeing here is the collective assessments of many thousands of people who are, on the whole, above-average in terms of education and political literacy. Oh, and we had more votes in this poll than we've had in any other so far.
To start, here's how the readership sees the GOP field at the moment. The score is calculated based on three points for a first-place vote, two points for a second, one point for a third:
| Candidate | Score | Avg. Place |
| Gov. Ron DeSantis (R-FL) | 9988 | 1.49 |
| Former president Donald Trump | 9372 | 1.39 |
| Gov. Glenn Youngkin (R-VA) | 4082 | 0.61 |
| Former secretary of state Mike Pompeo | 3480 | 0.52 |
| Former vice president Mike Pence | 3470 | 0.52 |
| Fox entertainer Tucker Carlson | 3272 | 0.49 |
| Former Maryland governor Larry Hogan | 1960 | 0.29 |
| Gov. Asa Hutchinson (R-AR) | 1736 | 0.26 |
| Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) | 688 | 0.11 |
| Former representative Liz Cheney | 636 | 0.09 |
OK, not too many surprises there. Per the setup of the poll, Cruz and Cheney will be relegated, and will be replaced by the top two write-in vote-getters: Nikki Haley and Gov. Chris Sununu (R-NH). And we have to apologize to all those who suggested Abraham Lincoln; he is not eligible to the presidency by virtue of being dead.
And now, the Democratic results. This is where the surprises show up:
| Candidate | Score | Avg. Place |
| Gov. Gavin Newsom (D-CA) | 8658 | 1.29 |
| Secretary of Transportation Pete Buttigieg | 7620 | 1.13 |
| President Joe Biden | 6906 | 1.03 |
| Vice President Kamala Harris | 6154 | 0.91 |
| Gov. Gretchen Whitmer (D-MI) | 5722 | 0.85 |
| Sen. Mark Kelly (D-AZ) | 1274 | 0.19 |
| Sen. Amy Klobuchar (DFL-MN) | 1026 | 0.15 |
| Gov. Wes Moore (D-MD) | 478 | 0.07 |
| Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) | 326 | 0.05 |
| Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) | 320 | 0.05 |
That's right; the sitting president finished in third place. We think and hope we were clear that we were asking about what readers think will happen, as opposed to what they want to happen.
Anyhow, the senior-citizen progressive senators get relegated here, to be replaced by Gov. Roy Cooper (D-NC) and Sen. John Fetterman (D-PA). And again, we must apologize, this time to those who would like to see Franklin D. Roosevelt added. He's ineligible for the same reason Lincoln is.
And now, the results for our wildcard question of the month, about which outlets readers like for their political news. Recall that each respondent was able to pick up to three; the percentage here reflects the fraction of all the votes cast. Put another way, if every reader made three choices, and one of those three was The New York Times, the Times would finish with 33%.
| Outlet | Percentage of Votes Cast |
| The New York Times | 17.77% |
| The Washington Post | 14.98% |
| Other | 14.85% |
| CNN | 13.46% |
| MSNBC | 10.91% |
| Politico | 9.71% |
| Political Wire | 9.11% |
| NBC News/Meet the Press | 2.83% |
| TalkingPointsMemo | 1.76% |
| ABC News/This Week With George Stephanopoulos | 1.54% |
| The Wall Street Journal | 1.30% |
| CBS News/Face the Nation | 1.00% |
| Fox | 0.78% |
The 10 most common write-in votes were: NPR, PBS, The Hill, DailyKos, The Guardian, The Economist, The BBC, The Bulwark, Reddit and Twitter, in that order. Among the rarer choices were "Wait Wait... Don't Tell Me!," U.S. Election Atlas, The Onion, The Late Show with Stephen Colbert, Techdirt, Squawk Box, Punchbowl News, Pod Save America, Nation.Cymru, Joe.My.God, Helsingin Sanomat, George Conway's Twitter feed, Digby's Hullabaloo, Breitbart (1 vote), Balloon Juice, and 1440's daily digest. We got numerous comments that are more editorial in nature, such as this one: "None of these are my favorite... I read them because I have to but keep a wary eye to all of them. Always looking at why an article is written the way it is." We presume that the person who wrote in "Liberal Democrat News" was editorializing, as well.
The wildcard question of the month for February is: What is the greatest movie about politics ever made? The new ballot is here. (Z)