As election day nears, things are really heating up.

Last night, we watched the candidates in action at the televised "town hall" style debate.

Wouldn't it be nice if there was an easy and convenient way to find out what the American voter is really thinking about who will be the next president?

On the subject of "convenient," the leader in the world of convenience store retail, 7-Eleven is offering some election insight.

In my "Introduction to Mass Media" college courses I teach at Valparaiso University and Purdue North Central, we spend a good amount of time discussing a chapter in our text book about how the media covers politics. The text book includes the use of "straw poll," primarily done for entertainment purposes, which always intrigues students.

Well, 7-Eleven has taken the idea of "the straw poll" to an entirely new level. In fact, they've attached cups to these straws.

This week, the convenience store giant is kicking off its third quadrennial "7-Election Presidential Coffee Cup Poll."

Described as "unabashedly unscientific," the "just-for-fun poll" has proven remarkably accurate in elections past, with results closely mirroring the official surveys by the country's top political pollsters.

In the first 7-Election in 2000, only one percentage point separated the cup-counts of now-President George Bush and Democratic nominee, Sen. Al Gore. Likewise in 2004, President Bush out-cupped Sen. John Kerry, 51 percent to 49 percent.

During this promotion running through Tuesday, Nov. 4 Election Day, 7-Eleven invites Americans to pour their favorite hot beverage into either a red 20-ounce cup for Republican nominee, Sen. John McCain, or a blue 20-ounce cup for Democratic candidate, Sen. Barack Obama, and cast their cups for their preferred candidate.

The colored cups also have the candidates' names printed on them. Undecided customers need not choose sides, since "unmarked" 7-Eleven hot beverage cups will still be available, as well as bipartisan red, white and blue Big Gulp fountain drink cups featuring both the donkey and elephant party symbols.

(7-Eleven customers may vote as often as they wish, although they may want to switch to decaf after a few cups.)

"When 7-Eleven held its first 7-Election eight years ago, we had no idea what the final results would be or how popular the cup poll would become," said 7-Eleven President and CEO Joe DePinto.

"While we don't bill this as a statistically valid study by any means, it does reach Americans in their hometowns, on their way to work, after school or just going about their everyday lives. 7-Election provides an interesting daily snapshot of the election."

Depending on which of the 20-plus national polls you check out, McCain is leading by as much as seven points OR Obama is leading by as much as seven points, plus or minus 5 points, of course.

The 7-Election cups are instantly tabulated at the register when the sale is made. National and state results will be posted daily on 7-election.com, a Web site created just for the coffee cup poll.

"7-Election is treating this poll as a 'warm-up' for the real election on Nov. 4," DePinto said.

"While awareness of this presidential election hardly needs to be raised, 7-Eleven is providing a not-so-subtle daily reminder to its citizen-customers about the importance of voting."

And by today's figures, 7-Eleven sells more fresh-brewed coffee than anything else, amounting to 1 million cups each day, which translates to approximately 10,000 pots of coffee brewed every hour. In each of the past 7-Election polls, more than 6 million cups were cast.

Coffee, "a nonpartisan beverage choice for both Democrats and Republicans," also has deep political roots in American history.

In 1607, Captain John Smith, of Virginia, who was said to have squired the Indian Princess Pocahontas, introduced coffee in America, and it was named the national beverage by the First Continental Congress after the Boston Tea Party.

The opinions expressed are solely those of the writer. He can be reached at ppotempa@nwitimes.com or 219.852.4327.

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