La. Presidential Election map, 2008

Turnout will be high, TV is the place for politics and Louisiana is staying red thanks to Democrats crossing the aisle. Those were the messages from the results of a recent poll of randomly-chosen Louisiana residents -- not just registered voters -- conducted by the LSU Public Policy Research Lab. Released less than a week before Election Day, the survey sought to give a snapshot of the Pelican State's voting populace heading into the November contest. If nothing else, it makes us feel like we matter, too -- even if we aren't a swing state that gets to watch a lot of Jeep ads while being visited personally by the candidates.

Indeed, Louisianans do feel like their vote matters, according to the survey. About 76 percent of respondents said their vote "counts," according to the poll. Fully 80 percent of those asked said they planned to vote, which would post the kind of turnout even autocrats could get behind.

There were no big surprises when it came to the presidential candidates. About 54 percent of self-reported registered voters said their hearts and minds were with Republican Mitt Romney. Meanwhile, about 36 percent said they were aiming to vote for President Barack Obama. The source of some of Romney's support explains just how red we've become in Louisiana, as just over 19 percent of registered Democrats said they intended to vote for Romney.

In terms of what's important to voters, Louisiana also mirrors the rest of the country. About 2 iin 5 voters said the economy was the most important issue of the election, while 1 in 5 said health care was the most important issue. No word on the ideological breakdowns of those respondents. And we're an optimistic bunch, as about 70 percent of respondents think the presidential candidate with the best ideas will win, while 22 percent think the candidate with the most money will win.

In terms of knowing how to win, however, Louisiana still has a little work to do. About 25 percent of respondents think the president is elected by popular vote rather than the electoral college. Maybe they should get their news from somewhere else, as a full 72 percent (43 percent from national, 29 percent from local) of residents get their political news from TV. Republicans (15.8 percent) remain more likely than Democrats (6.6 percent) to get their news from the Internet, however, pointing to a digitally-focused political future as we get redder.

On the candidates front, the poll creators say the results should be treated with "some degree of caution," since there was no independent confirmation as to what party the respondents belonged to.