7-Eleven Renews Coffee Cup Presidential Vote

7-Eleven customers can express their presidential picks by choosing Obama or McCain coffee cups.

7-Eleven is getting back into politics with a quirky campaign that lets customers voice their opinions about the upcoming presidential election via the selection of their coffee cups.

Starting today, customers cast their vote by drinking their cup of Joe in either a red 20-ounce John McCain or blue 20-ounce Barack Obama cup. Undecided voters, or those who abstain from the poll, can fill a regular 7-Eleven logoed coffee cup. Voting runs through Election Day, Nov. 4.

The cups are tabulated at the register upon the sale, and results will be posted daily. 7-Eleven is also working with USA Today and CNN, which also will run tallies on their Web sites. In past elections, more than 6 million cups were counted, and 7-Eleven expects similar results in its campaign, the company said.

The promotion is designed, in part, to help push coffee sales at the convenience store, which typically sells 1 million cups each day.

“7-Election is a warm-up for the real election on Nov. 4,” 7-Eleven President and CEO Joe DePinto said in a release. “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.”

How accurate is the poll? In 2000, counts predicted a narrow lead for Democratic nominee Al Gore against George W. Bush. And in 2004, 7-Eleven customers predicted Bush would defeat Sen. John Kerry by 51% to 49%.

In-store and outdoor signage and online marketing support the promotion.