The exit polls are... pretty meaningless, in this case

The Economist, in their ever-increasing drive to make their recently revamped website more interactive, have launched a Global Electoral College, to see how the world would vote in the US Presidential Election.

Needless to say, of the countries whose residents have voted, all of them have ended up a very Democrat shade of blue on the world map.

While I like magazine's the idea, the results of the survey are pretty pointless for obvious reasons. In any event, the 77% showing of support from US Economist readers for Obama contrasts with the much more balanced split of support for the two candidates as can be seen in this wide collection of American polling and media agency polls.

One wonders would international surveys like this, in favour of Obama, have the effect of bolstering support for the Republican candidate? Could support for McCain be increased because Americans, just like Irish voters in the Lisbon Treaty Referendum, according to Charlie McCreevy, don't like to be "bullied" by external forces into delivering the right result?