Who Voted for Barak in South Carolina?
I recently said that race wouldn’t hurt Obama, unless it was the racism of the North. Then I got a shock in South Carolina. Despite Obama’s landslide victory, he came in third among whites. THIRD! I should say that I meant that race wouldn’t hurt him in a general election when up against a Republican, because any Democrat is likely to lose the South (unless Obama gets 80% of the black vote as he did in the SC primary; Clinton has no such advantage).
So then I looked at the real breakdown of the SC results and found them not as discouraging as one might think.
- Clinton beat Obama by one percent among white males. Edwards trounced them both among white males (45%) but even that is not that discouraging. Obama got 80% of black males. So we’ve progressed to the point that white males are more willing to vote against their race and gender. Clinton won among white females by an even smaller margin (42% to 36% for Edwards and 22% for Obama).
- Things are getting better. Only 15% of non-black voters 60 and over voted for Obama. 52% of non-black voters 29 and under voted Obama. That suggests that race is becoming a less significant lense through which to see the world. Maybe we’ll see the Confederate flag disappear from South Carolina some day (why are Confederate flags allowed on government property in America, but the Nazi flag is not allowed anywhere in Germany?)
- Obama won among poor people, which is no doubt a result of the fact that blacks tend to be poor, but it suggests that the Edwards agenda of looking out for the poor will have to be on Obama’s agenda too. Edwards did best among those earning over $200,000/year, which suggests that his war on poverty message fell on deaf ears.
- 49% of Democratic voters who identify themselves as conservative voted for Obama. That bodes well for the general election.
- Obama polled 64% of those who go to church more than once a week. That is likely partly because of black religiousity (always undercounted when talking about the “religious” vote), but still bodes well for going up against a Republican in November.
Source: CBS Exit Polls
Popularity: 18% [?]
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