On 25 August I reported on a Financial Times online poll, which gave readers the chance to vote on who they thought would be the next Federal Reserve Chairman. Back then, Ben Bernanke was the clear favourite with 36% of the vote - much higher than any other contender.
Not anymore. With 925 votes now counted (compared with just 222 votes at the time of my previous post), Martin Feldstein has almost caught up. Bernanke's vote has slipped back to 29%, compared with 27% for Martin Feldstein. You can still cast your vote here.
| Martin Feldstein, Harvard and former chair Council of Economic Advisers |  254/27% |
| Glenn Hubbard, Columbia and former CEA chair | 109/12% |
| Ben Bernanke, CEA and former Fed governor | 272/29% |
| Don Kohn, Fed governor | 97/10% |
| Roger Ferguson, Fed vice chair | 193/21% |
Of course, Financial Times readers may be wrong - and I still have my money on Bernanke. But these results do tend to suggest it is no longer a one horse race. As Edward Hugh commented at the time, "Feldstein wouldn't be a bad second bet".
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