Highlights from exit polling Tuesday in the Indiana and North Carolina Democratic primaries
Nearly half the voters in the Indiana and North Carolina Democratic primaries said the situation with Barack Obama’s former pastor, the Rev. Jeremiah Wright, was important to their vote. Most of them voted for Clinton: about seven in 10 in Indiana and six in 10 in North Carolina.
In both states, those who said Wright was not a factor leaned clearly toward Obama. In North Carolina, Obama won more votes from people who said the issue wasn’t important than Clinton did among those who said it was, while in Indiana the two groups were about equal in size.
In both states, whites were about equally divided between those saying Wright was an influential factor and those saying he was not.
Of those whites who said Wright affected their vote, about eight in 10 in each state favored Clinton. That compared to six in 10 white voters overall in each state who supported her.
Only about one in five in each state said Iraq was the top issue, and even fewer picked health care from a list of three issues.
Four in 10 Indiana Democratic voters said the economic slowdown has affected their family a great deal. Nearly as many said that in North Carolina.
A solid majority of each Democratic hopeful’s voters said they would not be satisfied if the other candidate wins the nomination. Nearly two-thirds of Clinton voters said they’d be dissatisfied with Obama, compared with 52 percent in 25 primaries where the question was asked previously. About six in 10 Obama voters said they would be dissatisfied with Clinton as the nominee, more than have said that in any state to date.
Just how dissatisfied? A third of Clinton backers claimed they would vote for Republican John McCain if he faces Obama in November. One in five Obama supporters said they would vote for McCain over Clinton.
AP
5/7/8
Magnolia Tribune
