Quirky election poll that has only been wrong once in 40 years predicts one presidential candidate is burnt

If 'c' is for cookie, then 'd' is for democracy as an Ohio bake shop attempts to correctly predict the result of the 2024 election via the sale of candidate-themed treats.

Busken Bakery in Cincinnati has only been wrong once in the last 40 years in predicting the results of the presidential race.

The shop's various locations sell cookies with both candidates' faces on them - as well as a third way 'Cookie Party' option with a smiley face - and keep count in an attempt to predict who wins in November.

So far, the store's history could be great news for Donald Trump, who has outsold Kamala Harris cookies by 2,953 to 2,134. 

It's always important to note potential third-party candidates playing spoiler, as the 'Cookie Party' treat has sold 397 'votes' so far. 

However, it should be noted that the only time they've gotten it wrong since the 1980s was the last election, when Trump outsold Joe Biden by a wide margin. 

Ohio has become a red state and Cincinnati is right along the Kentucky border, though the city's mayor and entire city council are elected Democrats. 

The CEO of the bakery says it's all in good fun and hopes everyone votes early and often. 

'We like to joke and say [customers] can stuff the ballot box,' Dan Busken told the New York Post. 

He says his father, who used to run the company, conceived of the idea back in the 1980s, along with promotions that predict the Super Bowl.

A local artist is hired to make the somewhat exaggerated designs of the two candidates running. 

Busken does believe that you get a diverse swath of the electorate from the company's four locations, as well as online sales. 

'Our results, out of our four retail stores, kind of cover the north, south, east and west portions of Cincinnati. So they're pretty diverse,' Busken said. 

Unfortunately, Busken notes, polarization and partisan politics has started to spoil what's meant to be a harmless exercise.

'Some people this year — especially more than any prior elections — have been more vocal and, not so friendly about things. But we're moving forward. We've done it for 40 years. We think it's fun.' 

He adds, however, that the upside of that is that sales have been up quite a bit from the last election.

'We sold a lot more in the first two weeks than we did the last election. So I'd say cookie voter turnout has been up.' 

Earlier today, Trump received positive news from the slightly less sweet but more professional pollsters. 

Trump is leading Harris in three critical battleground states both candidates have been campaigning heavily in as the race for the White House heads into the final stretch.

The New York Times/Siena College poll shows the ex-president's strength in the Sun Belt where he has a sizable lead over the vice president in Arizona and is polling ahead in Georgia and North Carolina among likely voters. 

Respondents there said Trump improved their lives when he was president and worry a Harris administration would not. 

In Arizona, a state Trump lost by just over 10,000 votes to President Biden in 2020, the poll has Trump up five points 50 percent to Harris' 45 percent.

In Georgia, another state the Republican presidential nominee lost by less than 12,000 votes in the 2020 election, Trump leads 49 percent to Harris' 45 percent. 

In North Carolina, which Trump won in 2020 by just 75,000 votes, the race is extremely close with the ex-president polling at 49 percent over Harris' 47 percent. 

The polling shows just how close the presidential race truly is with it likely being decided by just seven battleground states where a few thousand votes could make a massive difference on who gets the set the course of the country for the next four years.