Exit polls: Why Clinton won Ohio
Posted: Wednesday, March 05, 2008 12:49 AM by Domenico Montanaro
From MSNBC's Norah O'Donnell and Adam Verdugo
Hillary Clinton's win in Ohio was shouldered on the strength of her core constituencies: women, whites, labor, seniors, and she narrowed the gap in groups that had been strong for Barack Obama.
Let's take a closer look at the white vote. Overall, she won a solid victory among whites. Clinton took 65% of the vote to Obama's 33%.
As in other contests Obama won the black vote by a wide margin (86%-14%). But remember, blacks make up only 19% of the Democratic electorate, so the white vote was key for Clinton.
The generation gap among whites starts at a younger point than we've seen elsewhere. Only the under-30 groups broke for Obama (49%-46%). And as you can see, it was a far narrower gap than we have seen in other contests. All of the other age groups among whites went for Clinton (ages 30-44, 62%-38%; ages 45-64, 68%-29%; ages 65+, 74%-23%).
There was more of a split among whites by education. Those without college educations going overwhelmingly for Clinton with 71% of the vote. The numbers were closer for those with a college education -- where Clinton won by 54% to Obama's 43%.
Clinton regained her lead among the "white working class" -- those who make less than $50,000 (69%-28%). She also won among whites, who make more than $50,000 (61%-37%).
Clinton also showed her strength in other areas: She won the late deciders; she won among union households; she was seen as best qualified to be Commander-In-Chief, and she was seen as the candidate with the best chance of winning in the fall.
