Exit polls: Why Obama won
Posted: Tuesday, February 19, 2008 10:26 PM by Domenico Montanaro
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Norah O'Donnell
From MSNBC's Norah O'Donnell and Adam Verdugo
Obama chalked up his ninth straight victory and won in this predominantly white state with a strong showing across a broad spectrum of voters and by eating into Hillary Clinton's base of support. He nearly tied her among women, won on all of the issues and won every income level. He also won the white vote under-60.
First, the independents: One-in-four voters call themselves independents in this open primary and tonight, Obama took nearly two-thirds.
Second, white voters: He did very well among white men with 62% of their vote to Clinton's 36%. Remember those Edwards voters? At least among white men, it looks like at least some of them are going for Obama. Clinton, though, still took a plurality of white women (53%-45%).
Obama also made inroads with one core constituency of Clinton's: white working-class voters (households making under $50k/yr). Clinton still edged him out 51% to 48%, but Obama had a strong showing. He won white households making more than $50k/yr -- 56% to 48%.
Electability has been something both campaigns have been touting. Tonight, Obama beat Clinton soundly -- 63%- 37% -- when voters were asked who would be most likely to beat the Republican candidate in the fall.
One other note regarding the negative attacks this past week: Wisconsin Democrats took notice. When we asked if either of these candidates attacked the other unfairly, 53% said that Clinton was unfair, while only 33% said the same about Obama.
Not all is lost, however, for Clinton. She still took the senior vote, those with less than a college education and Catholics, but it was not enough to overtake Obama.
