Similar to Xbox Live's coverage of the 2008 campaign, the Election 2012 hub will provide Xbox Live members with information on both Obama's and Romney's presidential campaigns, Microsoft announced via press release today.
Arriving August 27, the first piece of content will "focus on convention-related news", with future content scheduled to cover live feeds of both national conventions, during which members can respond to poll questions. Other original programming includes broadcasts from NBC News and "Conversations with the Next Generation", which will feature youth town halls in Tampa, Florida (Aug. 29) and Charlotte, North Carolina (Sept. 5).
Hopefully, these "young people" will have knowledge of the political climate and positions of their own, not just talking points blathered by their parties' pundits ad nauseum. Otherwise, it would just be embarassing… for me as a member of the "young people".
Of a more practical note, the hub will join Face the Facts USA, a nonpartisan research initiative that plans to deliver only the facts and nothing but the facts. Of course, facts can always be skewed to reflect one side or the other, but at least they will provide a baseline for understanding the major issues at hand.
Users who have yet to register to vote will be able to do so through the hub's Rock the Vote, which will provide local voter information as well as its own registration form.
The youth vote cannot be ignored in the election, as a Xbox-commissioned survey by StrategyOne found that 40% of Xbox Live members are not committed to either Obama nor Romney, which means that they can swing the election in one direction or the other (or simply not vote at all).
So the question remains: Obama, Romney, or neither?
