Either way: The verifiable estimate of the total number of support clicks in the system is ~50,000.

The further the delegate count moves away from 50,000 and toward 0, the more believable — and, actually, better for Americans Elect — it gets, as such a count suggests a smaller number of true believers who persevered to be verified and then went on to click support for one or more candidates.

As the delegate count approaches and surpasses 50,000, it would seem to get less believable, since — especially if one assumes that some significant number of delegates did click for multiple candidates — such a count suggests a higher and higher number of people who went to all the trouble of getting verified and then did nothing with their empowered status.

Americans Elect delegates, which now total more than 400,000 and counting, can draft and support a presidential candidate of their choice and nominate a presidential ticket that will appear on general election ballots nationwide this November.

Was that a proper scientific poll?

If so, I assume that somebody (or bodies) had to fund it — or that, at the very least, some individual or firm donated professional polling services that can be represented by a dollar value.

Can, and would, you provide details about the financial and/or professional support for this poll? Who conducted it? Who paid for it? How much money did each financial contributor to the poll donate? Or, if none, what was the monetary value of any donated polling services?

Thanks.

Maine’s People Resource Center polling has:
Angus King (I) 56%
Charlie Summers (R) 21.8%
Matt Dunlap (D) 12.2%

You, on the other hand, don’t cite any documented sources.

Another little footnote re Americans Elect’s pushing a slippery definition of “delegate”…

In his video chat with Judy Woodruff on 20 March, Josh Levine said (video starting at 2:45):

What we ask people to do is join up as delegates — when you come to our Web site, we call users “delegates” — when you come to the Web site, join up as a delegate; learn about yourself by finding out about your Priorities and the issues; and then find out what candidates match up to you….

…Wachtel said that “less than 1 percent have tried and failed to register”….

If the total number of delegates was “over 400,000,” then “less than 1 percent” would be a number in the neighborhood of 4,000.

But this is nowhere close to 300.

If — as it seems reasonable to deduce — “only 300″ corresponds to “less than 1 percent,” then the total number of delegates is just north of 30,000.

This tracks well with the fact that there is a total of only about 50,000 “support clicks” in the entire Americans Elect system and that delegates were permitted to click for as many candidates as they wished.