Posted on 01/03/2008 8:20:16 PM PST by NormsRevenge
Final results of a survey conducted for The Associated Press among voters at the Iowa caucuses Thursday night:
WHAT THEY WANTED
About half of Democrats said they most wanted their candidate to bring about needed change, and Barack Obama won the support of 51 percent of this group. Hillary Rodham Clinton dominated among those citing experience, but they represented only one-fifth of voters. Another fifth said they most wanted a candidate who cared about people like them, and they liked John Edwards. Only about one in 10 said they most wanted a contender with the best chance of capturing the White House, and they opted for Edwards — who finished third.
Among Republicans, more than four in 10 said finding a candidate who shared their values mattered most, and the lion's share of them — 44 percent — found Mike Huckabee. Another third wanted a candidate who says what he believes, and they also favored Huckabee. A smaller group was looking for experience, and they leaned toward Mitt Romney and John McCain. About one in 10 said they wanted a winner in November, and half picked Romney, the second-place finisher.
TWO PARTIES, TWO SETS OF ISSUES
Given three choices, just over a third of Democrats said Iraq was the chief issue facing the country, with the same number naming the economy. Health care was close behind. Obama had the most support among those naming Iraq and the economy. Of those naming health care — which many polls have shown to be a Clinton strength — 34 percent supported Obama, 30 percent Clinton.
Illegal immigration was the most mentioned issue by Republicans from four choices, with a third saying it was most important. Next, in order, were the economy, terrorism and the war in Iraq. Huckabee led on every issue but terrorism, where he was tied with Romney for the lead and McCain was close behind.
LOVE AT FIRST SIGHT?
Fifty-seven percent of Democrats said Thursday's caucuses were the first they had attended, about the same as in 2004, and this group gave Obama a big boost. Four in 10 of them supported the Illinois senator, compared to three in 10 who backed Clinton and two in 10 who supported Edwards.
Edwards did best among veteran caucus goers, garnering 30 percent of their vote. Obama and Clinton each got about a quarter of their support.
RELIGION
Six in 10 GOP voters said they were born again or evangelical Christians, and by far the largest share _almost half _supported Huckabee. Romney led among non-evangelical voters, getting a third of their support.
More than a third of Republicans said having the same religious beliefs as their candidate was very important, and of that group just over half favored Huckabee.
DECISION TIME
About half of Democrats said they chose their candidate more than a month ago, and that group leaned toward Obama. Of the one in five who said they'd made their selection in the past three days, Clinton trailed both Obama and Edwards.
Among Republicans, about three in 10 said they'd decided more than a month ago, and they were split about evenly between Huckabee and Romney. Huckabee had about a 2-to-1 edge over Romney among those who decided within the past month, and a clear advantage among the nearly one in five who said they'd decided only Thursday.
WHO VOTED HOW
By 35 percent to 30 percent, Obama narrowly edged Clinton among women _a source of strength for Clinton in national polls. Obama had a decisive victory among men.
More than half of voters younger than age 30 were supporting Obama, and he even had a near 2-to-1 lead over her among those age 30 to 44. Clinton had a decisive lead among the oldest voters.
As in past Iowa caucuses and other presidential nomination contests, the Democratic turnout was predominantly female, while a majority of Republicans were male.
In a disappointment for Edwards, he was trailing among the roughly one-quarter of voters from union households _an area where he had hoped to do well.
Democratic caucus-goers were a little younger on average than their Republican counterparts.
TRUE BELIEVERS
Obama had a strong lead among the half of Democrats who called themselves liberal and was about even with Clinton among moderates. Edwards led among the small number of conservatives.
Close to nine in 10 of those who showed up for the Republican caucuses called themselves conservative, compared to about three-quarters of voters in the last two contested GOP caucuses, in 1996 and 2000. Huckabee was their champion, including winning 35 percent of the very conservative — well ahead of Romney and Fred Thompson.
PARTISANSHIP
In the Democratic race, about three-fourths said they were Democrats and Clinton and Obama ran about even among them. That group was supposed to be a Clinton strength. Among the one-fifth who were independents, Obama had a substantial lead, with Edwards running a distant second.
An overwhelming number of those at the GOP caucuses said they were Republican, and Huckabee led among them. Of the roughly one in 10 independents, Ron Paul was doing best with 29 percent of their votes, followed by McCain, Romney and Huckabee.
PAKISTAN
Nearly half of Democrats said events Pakistan were very important in picking a candidate, and Clinton and Obama split about evenly among them. Those less focused on the situation there leaned more toward Obama.
About the same number of Republicans also cited Pakistan, and they divided roughly evenly between Huckabee and Romney. Huckabee prevailed among those less concerned.
___
Surveys conducted for AP and the television networks by Edison Media Research and Mitofsky International at 40 sites each for Democratic and Republican caucuses in Iowa. Results included interviews with 1,600 Republicans and 2,136 Democrats. Sampling error in each survey was plus or minus 4 percentage points.
Read it and weep.
Just proves how many people in Iowa cannot read!
David Gergen's now observing the formidability of Huckabee. I agree. I think Huckabee's going to be the next President.
Well, it was Iowa, I think all it did was cripple and/or knock out the Breck Girl and Romney, who I’d once supported - turns out I fit the “profile” of the Romney voter.
Now it’s time to cut ‘r run a la John Murtha. Thompson now, probably - beats his buddy Juan by a mile in “electability”.
Hillary has no “winning” issues left, she lost on all her signature issues. She’s desperate and dangerous, mostly to herself, now.
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More than a third of Republicans said having the same religious beliefs as their candidate was very important...
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THAT is truly frightening. It is, without doubt, the worst reason of all for voting. Because it stops a voter from closely examining a candidate, since after all, he or she must be like me. That is how a slick huckster sells.
Way back in 1986, just back home from 6-years in the Navy, I attended a Republican party monthly meeting.
None of the people there I recognized. All the faces had changed from 7-years before. I asked a woman who sat next to me if she knew so-and-so from back then and she said no, she had only started voting in 1984.
But then she said, all excited, how great the future would be for us. Her minister, a Baptist, was head of the Republican party in this county and he assured everyone in his congregation that a theocracy was sure to come if more people like themselves went out and voted. I left soon after.
That minister was later found guilty of molesting three teenage girls in his congregation. I sometimes wonder how devastated those people were after that horrible event.
“David Gergen’s now observing the formidability of Huckabee. I agree. I think Huckabee’s going to be the next President.”
The MSM giveth and the MSM taketh away. Huckster is perhaps the worst candidate we could put up, which is why the MSM is so enamored of him. Sad to see that Iowa voters fell for it.
I think a lot more people than just Iowa voters are going to fall for it.
I am increasingly frustrated by knee jerk FReepers mocking Iowa. I gaurantee you won’t find better people anywhere. Starting to sound like a bunch of mocking lieberals up in here. Wake up people!
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