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Business Wire:

As election day nears, things are really heating up, especially at neighborhood 7-Eleven® stores. Today, the convenience store giant kicks off its third quadrennial 7-Election presidential coffee cup poll.

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 1 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 that runs 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 – “unmarked” 7-Eleven hot beverage cups will still be available as well as a 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.”

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