Exit Polls: Obama Gains With Latinos, Romney Gains With Evangelicals
The exit polls for Tuesday's election show President Barack Obama doing better with Latinos than he did in 2008, and Mitt Romney doing better with white evangelical Christians than John McCain did in 2008.
Though not enough to win, Romney was better than McCain's 2008 showing in almost every demographic category. Obama was helped by a strong Democratic and Latino turnout.
On Tuesday, The Christian Post wrote about what to look for in the exit polls. Here is what the exit polls show in each of those categories:
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Women
The "gender gap" continued as Romney won among men, 52 to 45 percent, and Obama won among women, 55 to 44 percent. Despite many direct appeals to women voters, Obama did not improve upon his 2008 performance with female voters. In 2008, Obama won 56 percent of the female vote. Women were a larger share of the electorate, 53 percent, than men, 47 percent, this election.
Catholics
Obama won the Catholic vote, 50 to 48 percent. This is down, though, four percentage points from 2008, when he won 54 percent of the Catholic vote.
Latinos
Obama received a greater share of the Latino vote than he did in 2008. He won 67 percent of the Latino vote in 2008, and 71 percent of the Latino vote on Tuesday. Latinos' share of the electorate notched up one percentage point from nine percent in 2008 to 10 percent this year.
Evangelicals
Despite concerns by some that Romney's Mormon faith would hurt his chances with evangelicals, Romney did better than McCain in 2008. McCain had 74 percent and Romney had 78 percent of the white evangelical vote.
White evangelicals' share of the electorate remained the same. They comprised about one in four voters, 26 percent, in both 2008 and 2012.
Suburbanites
As expected, Romney did better in rural areas, Obama did better in urban areas. Those who live in suburbs split their vote right down the middle. Each candidate received 50 percent of the suburbanite vote.
Partisan Composition
Obama won by turning out his base of Democratic voters. Democrats were 38 percent of the electorate while Republicans were only 32 percent. Independents were the smallest part of the electorate at 29 percent, and they favored Romney 50 to 45 percent.
Concerned About the Economy
Romney's appeals to those concerned about the economy seem to have worked. Those who said the nation's economic conditions are "not so good" or "poor" favored Romney, 60 to 38 percent. These voters were 77 percent of the electorate. In 2008, they were 93 percent of the electorate and favored Obama, 54 to 44 percent.
For more exit poll results, check out CNN, Fox News, The New York Times, and The Washington Post.
