Hillary lost 65% of the white vote (58% of women, 72% of men), 78 % of the black vote (80% of women)

[ProSense]

SC exit poll highlights

By The Associated Press Sat Jan 26

Some highlights of data from exit polls conducted for The Associated Press and television networks in the South Carolina Democratic primary Saturday. All numbers are final.
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DIVIDED BY RACE

Black voters dominated the South Carolina primary and voted overwhelmingly for Barack Obama, with 78 percent supporting him. Nineteen percent of blacks voted for Hillary Rodham Clinton. While a quarter of whites voted for Obama, three-quarters of whites split their votes between the two white candidates, Clinton and John Edwards, voting 40 percent for Edwards and 36 percent for Clinton. Edwards' support came almost entirely from white voters.

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WOMEN: RACE OVER GENDER

In the historic battle that pitted a black man against a white woman, the question on many minds was how black women would vote. They went overwhelmingly for the black man, in the same eight in 10 proportions as black men. Nearly all the rest voted for Clinton.

Clinton wasn't even able to win a majority of white women, a group she split with 42 percent of the vote. Edwards won 36 percent of white women, while Obama won 22 percent of them. Edwards easily won among white men, getting 45 percent of their vote compared to 28 percent for Clinton and 27 percent for Obama.

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READY FOR A FIRST

Three in four voters said the country is ready to elect a black president, and about the same said the country is ready to elect a woman. Eighty-nine percent of Obama voters said the country is ready for a black president, but 61 percent of Clinton voters said the country is ready. Ninety-three percent of Clinton voters and 69 percent of Obama voters said the country is ready to elect a woman president.

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LOOKING FOR A CHANGE

Just over half the voters said they were looking for candidate who could bring about needed change, a group Obama won handily. Fourteen percent of voters said they were mostly looking for a candidate with experience, the only candidate quality that Clinton dominated. Edwards and Obama split the votes of those who want a candidate who cares about people like them, and Clinton and Obama split the votes of those few voters who were looking for a candidate who can win in November. Two-thirds of blacks say Obama is most electable, while more whites think Clinton is most electable.

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IT'S THE ECONOMY, AGAIN

Given three choices, 52 percent of voters said the economy was the most important issue facing the country, up from 38 percent in the New Hampshire primary in early January. Economy voters lined up behind the candidates in a similar fashion to the overall result, with Obama winning about half, Clinton coming in well behind and Edwards in third.

25 percent of voters said health care was the most important problem facing the country. Obama won their support by an even greater margin than he won economy voters, with Clinton getting just a quarter of their support. The war in Iraq was judged most important by only 19 percent of voters, and they also voted mostly for Obama.

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POLICY OR PERSONALITY?

Given the choice, 6 in 10 voters said the issues were most important to their vote, and they voted for Obama. Clinton did a little better among those who said leadership and personal qualities were most important, but Obama still won that group as well.

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LATE SHIFT TO EDWARDS?

A week of sniping between Clinton and Obama may have helped Edwards among whites. Half of those white voters who decided within the last week voted for Edwards, almost 20 points better than he did among those who decided earlier. But this late shift in support was not enough for Edwards to win convincingly among whites. Slightly fewer blacks said they made up their minds in the last three days, and eight in 10 late deciders who were black went to Obama.

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ATTACK!!!!!

After the contentious Democratic debate Monday night, 72 percent of Obama voters said Clinton had attacked Obama unfairly, and even 63 percent of Clinton voters said she had made unfair attacks. Most Clinton voters also said Obama had made unfair attacks against her, but just 44 percent of Obama supporters felt that way. Edwards voters were more likely than either of the other candidates' supporters to say Clinton and Obama attacked each other unfairly.

more

Final Numbers: Obama Wins Huge Victory

By Greg Sargent - January 26, 2008

The numbers, with 99% reporting:

Obama: 55%

Hillary 27%

Edwards 18%

Massive win for Obama, obviously. Hillary is speaking now. More soon

[Name removed]

1. Deleted sub-thread

Sub-thread removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[Boo Boo]

2. Interesting way of putting it.

So, looks like Hillary "lost" 78 percent of the black vote, and Barak "lost" 75 percent of the white vote. Any way ya look at it, that's not really very encouraging.

Although, I do enjoy reading the words "Hillary" and "lost" in the same sentence. :7

[ProSense]

3. Obama and Edwards:

Obama lost 75% of the white vote (78% of women, 73% of men), 20 % of the black vote

Edwards lost 61% of the white vote (64% of women, 55% of men), 99 % of the black vote

[Tom Rinaldo]

4. That aspect isn't discouraging to me

There isn't a pluralistic nation in the world where race doesn't factor in somewhat in the mix when leaders are chosen. I think the voters of SC can be proud of themselves because it is obvious to me that they did not knee jerk vote based on race at all.

First let me say that of course I am talking in generalities which isn't fair since every voter made an individual decision. Black voters in SC did not just vote for a Black candidate. They voted for the best candidate who they felt could win and make a real difference in their lives. They were realists and held back support somewhat from Obama untill they were sure he could be a unity candidate that all of America could accept. After winning Iowa and coming in a close second in NH, both overwhelmingly white states, they came to believe that Obama could be that unifying leader who would also understand and care about the issues most important to them. It was only then that his African American support became relatively one sided. That is a pretty sophisticated decision making process in my opinion. I applaud SC's African American voters for paying attention and thinking it through with real results in mind.

Further, even though the immensely positive long term benefits of trumping racism in America by electing a Black man president could be persuasively powerfully argued to be in the self interests of SC's black voters, still 20% of them chose Hillary Clinton, even after all the race card controversy that resulted in her campaign looking bad. There was no group think among SC's black voters, just rational deeply thought through considerations.

And Obama got substantial white support in the deep south in a racially polorizing political environment. Neither white candidate got dramatically higher levels of support from whites than Obama did. Both Obama and Clinton in my opinion can take some pride, under the very special circumstances at play for that primary, for winning substantial bi-racial support. Of the two by far the more impressive showing was by Obama. But there was nothing shameful for the candidates or for America about those results.

[boston bean]

5. You are counting black people and black women twice. Please stop. nt

[ProSense]

6. No: approximately 8 in 10 black women and 8 in 10 black men voted for Obama. n/t

[dailykoff]

7. Let's see she wins the mean old haters in rest homes demographic.

Think they can carry her on Super Tuesday?

[pberq]

8. Massive win for Obama

Obama: 55%

Hillary 27%

Edwards 18%

Massive win for Obama, obviously.

[goodhue]

9. Interesting numbers

[Ghost Dog]

10. Excuse me. Were there more black voters than white voters

overall in this SC primary?

I'm aware there was a large turnout. If there were more black voters than white then the introductory phrase "Black voters dominated the South Carolina primary" is fair enough. If not, then the phrase would appear to be another echo of Clinton-camp spin (thanks, ProSense); and it would be much truer as well as more fair to say that the black vote was largely united behind one candidate, while the white vote was more divided between the three candidates.

[populistdriven]

11. K&R! nt