Paintballers will affect the presidential election

Paintball Times has been successful in predicting the presidential winner every year since we first began back in 1993. Paintball players in the Midwest and all around the country have depended on us to inform them about all things paintball and all things politics. What good is paintball if it becomes illegal?

Back in 1992 we predicted that Clinton would win and even wrote a small blurb about it in our print newsletter (back then we were only in print). In 1996, we chose Clinton as our endorsee and as Americans voted their pocketbook, so did paintball players. In 2000, we recommended George Bush, and paintballers responded.

This year the election will be close and many ‘battleground’ states are heavily populated by paintball players. Ohio, Michigan, Florida, New Mexico, Colorado, Wisconsin, Nevada and Pennsylvania are huge paintball states and every single vote will count. Those states are home to about 10 million of America’s 25 million paintballers. Those are states that a single vote can make a difference.

As always, our staff meets, discusses, and battles over our decision. We poll our readers, read their discussions on our forum, and even call important folks in the paintball industry. We poll important players in the paintball industry as well as discuss issues at length with paintball media personalities. Eventually, we reach a conclusion.

This year was more of the same, but we began our research early. Way back in March of 2004, we began our preliminary poll and started asking questions. The response was even more impressive than in 2000. Back in 2000, we did not have our discussion forum up and running, now that we do, we receive more interactive feedback from our readers. Back in the old days, we depended on surveys and emails. No more!

Technology has brought paintball players together in ways that no one could have imagined. This put us in position to receive immediate feedback on issues, polls, response to news events, and feel the pulse of the people from various states.

It became clear to us early on, that nothing was going to persuade anyone to change their mind about who they are voting for. This year’s population of ‘undecided’ voters was very small. Most of the public was ‘very inelastic and unwavering in their position. No amount of news, persuasion nor discussion was going to change anyone’s mind. No matter who was talking or what the issue was, no one ever said, “Hey thanks, I see your point now, I think I’ll vote for your guy.”

We were vindicated when we saw no ‘bumps’ or ‘bounces’ in the national polls after various news items leaked, the conventions were held, or other issues that usually cause sways. America has pretty much made up it’s mind. And once again it’s pretty evenly divided and will depend on who shows up to actually vote. Whomever can get out more voters will win. That’s how close we think it is.

So who should you vote for if you are a paintball player? There are lots of choices and lots of issues. In the next few days we will be releasing our election coverage articles. Just in the nick of time!

Because of how close this election will be, it is crucial that every eligible paintballer go out and vote. We mostly are concerned that our younger players get in the habit of voting. You have an opportunity that not many people around the world have; the right and responsibility to vote.