Red Wing bakery announces Week 1 results of its 2024 presidential cookie poll

RED WING, Minn. — A southern Minnesota bakery is trying to find out who the nation's next president will be with a sweet twist on political polling.

Hanisch Bakery in Red Wing debuted its 2024 presidential cookie poll last week, tallying how many cookies were bought for either candidate: Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump or Democratic presidential nominee Kamala Harris.

In the first week of the poll, the bakery says Trump is leading the poll with 314 cookies to Harris' 192 cookies.

"It'll be a long process, it'll be a fun one. It'll be interesting and we'll see who sells the most," owner Bill Hanisch said. "It's all about having some fun, voting in what we call the sweetest way possible, enjoying a cookie and supporting your candidate."

The bakery's tradition dates back four decades and owners claim the cookie poll has accurately predicted nearly all presidential and gubernatorial races but for a few exceptions, largely centering around recent presidential races.

In the 2020 cookie poll, Trump had a large lead over President Biden. However, on Election Day, Mr. Biden won the popular vote by about 7 million votes. And, in 2012, a supporter of Republican presidential nominee Mitt Romney purchased enough cookies to put his preferred candidate ahead by one cookie in the poll.

Hanisch says the cookies will continue to be sold and tallied through the end of business on Election Day.