Well, looks like the pollsters got it wrong: Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton beat Senator Barack Hussein Obama by about 3% in the Granite State. The pundits will be regurgitating the data for about a week.
- Women return to Clinton in N.H. primaries
WASHINGTON – It was almost as if the candidates were running for president of two different countries. Exit polls showed that rather than reaffirming Iowa’s results from five days earlier, New Hampshire voters had their own thoughts about the contenders and the issues.
Of the two parties’ victors in New Hampshire on Tuesday, Hillary Rodham Clinton did better than she had last week in Iowa among women, independents and late deciders. On the Republican side, John McCain — who had campaigned sparingly in Iowa — soared among virtually all categories, dwarfing chief rival Mitt Romney on experience, authenticity and other areas.
Most telling was Clinton’s performance.
The New York senator went from narrowly losing the women’s vote in Iowa to Barack Obama to swamping him in New Hampshire among females, 46 percent to 34 percent. Women had been the anchor of her support in national and regional polling for most of the past year, and she had seemed in danger of springing a leak in her major constituency. This was crucial, since females usually comprise more than half those who vote for Democrats across the country.
That’s bad news for Senator Obama — and the nation. Mrs Clinton now has the badly-needed win under her belt, and if she can continue to dominate among women while the male candidates battle for the rest of the Democratic vote, as the campaign enters the “Super Tuesday” primaries on February 5th, most of which are not open to independents, she could sew up the nomination just four weeks from now.
I did note here that the Iowa caucus results frequently do not lead to victories in New Hampshire. I’ll add the graphical data after I get home this evening.
We want the data NOW! What are you doing? Working for a living? Where are your priorities?
…………… :0)
I’ll check back for your answer when I get home from work.
All I can say is – That’s the last time I trust “The Experts”, or the exit polls, either, for that matter. Fox News ran a thing on the bottom of the screen showing actual results ( ya know,that thing that really matters) and the results on both sides never varied more than a few percentage points all evening.
PS Needless to say, there was no PJ O’Rourke sized drink to celebrate with last night, either. Will have to save the champagne for another time!
There is an underreported quirk in New Hampshire election law that allows anyone who claims that they intend to move into the state to sign up on election day and vote.
It would be interesting to do some spot checks and determine how many ‘new voters’ there were in this election.
WHO CAN REGISTER
New Hampshire residents who will be 18 years of age or older on election day, and a United States Citizen, may register with the town or city clerk where they live up to 10 days before any election. You may also register on election day at the polling place. The town clerk’s office can inform voters of what proof of qualification they should bring to register.
There is no minimum period of time you are required to have lived in the state before being allowed to register. You may register as soon as you move into your new community.
Art, I don’t see the “quirk” here. Can you supply a little more detail if you have any?