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There are many unofficial polls being conducted on the presidential race. Some involve ice cream, coffee, even car washing.
We found a handful of places in the valley that are keeping track of this presidential election in unconventional ways.
The large stacks of John McCain coffee cups remaining at a Salt Lake 7-Eleven clearly show Barack Obama is the lead among coffee drinkers here.
"Right now, we are selling Obama more. … maybe 60-40," said Satish, who works at the 7-Eleven.
For the past three elections, participating 7-Elevens nationwide have been conducting their own presidential polls. According to the "7-Election," Obama is in the lead.
If you're not a coffee drinker, but like ice-cream, for the first time you can cast your unofficial vote at Baskin-Robbins.
Courtney, a Baskin-Robbins employee, said, "We have the "Straight Talk Crunch" and the "Whirl of Change" -- Whirl of Change, Obama; Straight Talk Crunch is McCain."
We put the flavors to an unofficial test. First, Straight Talk Crunch: white chocolate ice cream with red candy and chocolate.
"There's a crunch texture," our taste-tester Marilyn said, "It just feels like it has a lot of body, a great deal of experience."
Then we gave Marilyn Obama's Whirl of Change. "It's definitely nutty. That's all I can say for it," she said.
It's peanut-nougat ice cream with chocolate-covered peanut brittle, and it's popular. "People will come in and not even look at the ice cream, and say, ‘I want Obama ice cream,' because they've heard of it," Courtney said.
You may have also heard of the car wash on 300 West. You can show your opinion by which car-wash lane you pick. Obama is winner here too.
Whomever ever you pick, when the elections are over, there will be no more Whirl of Change or Straight Talk Crunch. And the only place you'll be able to find the McCain and Obama coffee cups is the trash. "We just throw them away," Satish said.
According to its Web site, the 2004 7-Election results were right on with national polls, showing George Bush the winner at 51 percent and John Kerry behind at 49 percent.
E-mail: abutterfield@ksl.com
