Posted on 03/05/2008 1:38:35 PM PST by mdittmar
Though rarely mentioned on the campaign trail, race and gender weighed heavily on the minds of some voters in the Democratic presidential primary.
The sharp divide among blacks and whites and women and men showed that it wasn't just the economy and the Iraq war that mattered to voters on Tuesday. Hillary Rodham Clinton won Ohio's primary, as well as the voting in Texas and Rhode Island.
When asked how much race influenced their vote, 20 percent of Ohio voters said it was an important issue and three in five voted for Clinton, according to exit polls for The Associated Press and television networks.
She also won 58 percent of the vote among white men, a key swing group that her rival Barack Obama had made inroads with in recent weeks.
White women, a core of her support throughout the primaries, accounted for 44 percent of all voters and two in three backed Clinton.
With Obama trying to become the first black president, 87 percent of black voters around Ohio overwhelmingly stuck with the U.S. senator from Illinois.
Obama's showing among black voters wasn't surprising, although they did turn out in bigger numbers Tuesday, accounting for about one in five voters this year compared with one in seven in the Democratic primary four years ago.
Obama strategist David Axelrod on Wednesday downplayed suggestions that race was a factor in the Ohio results, calling it a false argument.
He said the economy will remain the dominant theme through November. "The economic issues that are facing the state are such that I think people in Ohio have had their fill of Republican policies and Republican leadership," he said.
In Ohio, 59 percent of Democratic voters said the economy is most important issue facing the country.
The role that gender played couldn't be ignored in a race that may produce the first female president.
Seventeen percent of Democrats in Ohio said gender was important to their vote, and they voted 60 percent for Clinton.
The support she picked up from women in Ohio was a big change from two weeks ago when she split the group in the Wisconsin primary, which she lost.
Results were from interviews of 1,612 Democratic primary voters conducted by Edison Media Research and Mitofsky International in 40 precincts across Ohio on Tuesday. Margin of sampling error plus or minus 5 percentage points for the Democratic primary.
Looks like that will happen now for sure!
Maybe we shouldn’t allow everyone to vote - if most people vote for stupid reasons like being of the same race and sex (not gender) as the candidate.
She can count on the women to vote for her by continuing to play the "glass-ceiling" and "gender" cards as she has been. I expect many more references to it when she gets the nomination, and more tear-filled episodes, too.
The Hildabeast will return to the White House and order NEW silverware and china, and Huma will be her "Chief of Staff".
We are headed for unbelievable taxation and wealth-redistribution in the next 4 years.....
i worry if these two ran on the same ticket
that could be a juggernaut
A lot of black/white tension in southern OH, esp. along the KY border. I had the unfortunate chance of being in Cincy during a race riot (7-8 years) ago and it was downright terrifying.
The Limbaugh effect?
****
87 percent of black voters around Ohio overwhelmingly stuck with the U.S. senator from Illinois.
Hmm.
She has never had the men.
So Hillary’s campaign worked exactly as planned.
I thought Dims were supposed to be over all that race and gender stuff.
</sarcasm>
Yes - Hillary and the Clinton war machine planned from the start to get her ass kicked by a no-name candidate early on.
Then she planned to be forced to spend a couple HUNDRED MILLION in a long battle with another democRAT instead of the Republican candidate.
She planned a 5 or 6 months battle with Obama just to piss off most of the blacks in her party.
There's no fooling you - you saw right through her plan!
Isn't it telling that the Hispanic vote went to the rats instead of RINO McAmnesty? Since illegals can't vote, it's probably safe to assume that the majority of those Hispanic votes were from legal immigrants.
They voted for a rat over the same RINO who tried to sneak the amnesty bill through without debate. They don't want the illegals here any more than we do!
(I believe at the time the bill was going to "reach out" to Hispanics.) Guess what RINOs and Liberals - IT DIDN'T WORK! THEY VOTED RAT!
I was talking about the short term plans devised after the Super Tuesday, Potomac, and Wisconsin debacles.
I've been catching alot of flak for arguing to help her in the primary.
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