By the way...
...this mock-ballot finished.
https://miiverse.nintendo.net/posts/AYMHAAACAAADVHkP8wQNfA
1) Inklings
2) Shovel Knight
3) Snake
4) Banjo & Kazooie
5) King K. Rool
6) Bandana Waddle Dee
7)
Shantae
8) Wolf
9) Rayman
10) Isaac (Golden Sun)
...Ye Gods, this is why post polls are not done, not even on Miiverse. Bare in mind this was a very, very minor poll that barely got 50-75 votes, if that, so the results are drastically different from that you'd expect.
On the plus side though, while Shantae's place in these mock-ballots seems to fluctuate heavily, it's nice to see that she's consistently in the Top 10 now and has some love on Miiverse. She still struggles to get past K. Rool and B&K and occasionally Wolf and Snake, but all things considered that's a lot better than expected. Everyone else seen on mock-ballots fluctuates between being in Top 10 and not so much that I'm not sure they're relevant anymore.
Case and point, these old Strawpolls (if you haven't voted in them yet, just remove the "/r" from the end of the link):
http://strawpoll.me/4688981/r
http://www.strawpoll.me/4736426/r
http://www.strawpoll.me/4736435/r
The Inklings and Shovel Knight respectively had #1 and #2 on the Miiverse poll, but utterly failed to impress on the first Strawpoll. Isaac barely hit #10 on the Miiverse poll, but has neatly secured #2 on the second Strawpoll with the Inklings stuck behind him at #3. On the third Strawpoll, Shantae has been gradually pulling away from Shovel Knight and might be within striking distance of B&K's #1 spot soon.
Another poll of interest might be the apparently finished polls on the Super Smash Bros Central tumblr (
http://supersmashbroscentral.tumblr.com/). Going by number of votes in both polls, the Top 10 there are:
1) Banjo & Kazooie (224) (1st)
2) Sora (159) (3rd)
3) Chrom (152) (1st)
4) Bayonetta (139) (3rd)
5) Princess Daisy (125) (1st)
6)
Shantae (118) (3rd)
7) Rayman (115) (3rd)
8) King K. Rool (113) (1st)
9) Shovel Knight (113) (3rd)
10) Inkling (112) (1st)
If you (perhaps rightfully) question the validity of spots 3, 4 and 5 (maybe even 2 if you think Squeenix won't play ball), Shantae is comfortably in the Top 5. I think it's safe to say that Shantae has a prominent presence in the official Fighter Ballot by now. My only concern is how much the other entrants not named B&K or K. Rool fluctuate in fan-polls because it makes them very unpredictable in the final results.