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Exit polls of Florida voters in Tuesday’s Republican presidential primary reveal that key demographics — like senior citizens and Hispanics — propelled Sen. John McCain to victory.

McCain also got the most votes as the best candidate to beat the Democratic nominee in November — 46 percent compared to former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney with 33 percent.

McCain was also counting on military veterans and he got them — 42 percent to Romney’s 35 percent. Overall, veterans made up 27 percent of the voters Tuesday. McCain also led among self-described independents — 17 percent of overall Republican voters — with 44 percent and 43 percent of the moderates, who clocked in as 28 percent of the primary voters.

Of all voters, 73 percent said they have served in the military and 42 percent of them went for McCain, compared to 35 percent for Romney.

Romney, however, led strongly among voters who considered themselves conservative and concerned about illegal immigration heading into the polls today.

But at the end of the evening, that didn’t matter, with McCain receiving 36 percent of the overall vote to Romney’s 31 percent. Giuliani, who is expected now to drop out of the race and endorse McCain on Wednesday, received 15 percent of the vote.

According to exit poll numbers, 39 percent of seniors — those over age 60 — went with McCain, 34 percent went with Romney, while Giuliani got 16 percent of these voters. Nine percent went with former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee.

The younger demographic — ages 18 to 29 - went to McCain by 30 percent over Romney, who drew 23 percent. Huckabee took 18 percent of this vote and Giuliani grabbed 19 percent.

Male voters accounted for 56 percent of Republican electorate and they went for McCain 37 percent, while 32 percent went for Romney and 15 percent went for Giuliani. Women represented 44 percent of the vote and they went for McCain, too, 34 percent to 30 percent for Romney and 15 percent for Giuliani.

Hispanic GOP voters — who made up 12 percent of the primary vote — went 54 percent for McCain, who received an important endorsement from Cuban-born Sen. Mel Martinez, 24 percent for Giuliani and 14 percent for Romney. Huckabee got 5 percent of the votes from this group, according to the polling. Hispanics are the largest minority group in the state and include voters with Cuban, Puerto Rican and Mexican backgrounds.

On their own, Cuban-Americans — who represented 7 percent of the vote Tuesday — voted for McCain 54 percent over Giuliani with 32 percent and Romney with 9 percent.

On the GOP side, voters who said illegal immigration was the “top” issue for them — 16 percent — went with Romney 43 percent while 25 percent went for McCain, who has been widely criticized throughout the campaign by a segment of the GOP who opposed his immigration reform bill he advocated last year.

Those who said their biggest issue was the economy — it was the top issue overall with 45 percent — gave the edge to McCain over Romney 40 percent to 32 percent, with 13 percent for Huckabee and 11 percent of Giuliani. Romney had run his campaign largely on the argument that expertise on the economy is in his DNA.
On the issue of Iraq — of primary importance to 14 percent of Republicans — 45 percent said McCain was their candidate, compared to Romney with 19 percent.

Also according to the polls, one in four of voters said they consider themselves “very conservative,” and those that do said they went for Romney by 44 percent compared to McCain, who got 21 percent of this vote.

Those Republicans who consider themselves “somewhat conservative” — 34 percent of the voters — picked McCain with 35 percent over Romney with 32 percent.

Those who consider themselves “independent” — 17 percent — went for McCain 37 percent to 21 percent for Romney.

Among Republicans who decided their vote in the last three days — 13 percent of the GOP electorate — they were nearly split between McCain with 38 percent and Romney, 36 percent.

As for the endorsement of Florida Gov. Charlie Crist, who offered McCain his backing in a surprise announcement on Saturday, 43 percent said it was important to their decision today, and 51 percent of them went for McCain over Romney who got 23 percent of this vote.

Evangelical Christian voters accounted for 31 percent of the total vote and they split their vote among Romney and Huckabee, with both getting 31 percent.

On the Democratic side, Sen. Hillary Clinton won big Tuesday — though no delegates were at stake — with exit poll numbers indicating a strong showing among all demographics. She won the absentee and early voters. However, the polls indicate she and Illinois Sen. Barack Obama nearly split the “late deciders” — those who decided their vote in the last week.

Women made up 59 percent of the Democratic vote and Hillary won this group handily, 55 percent to 29 percent. She also won among male voters, 42 percent to 35 percent.

Among Hispanics, Clinton won by 59 percent to Obama’s 30 percent.

In a breakout of age groups, Clinton and Obama nearly split the 18 to 29-year-old demographic, which had been considered Obama’s stronghold in previous contests. In Florida, Clinton got 45 percent and Obama got 42 percent. The older the voters got, however, the more they landed in Clinton’s camp. Like McCain, she did best with seniors, topping Obama 58 percent to 25 percent.

Exit polling gave a good snapshot of Democrats voting in the primary and who they supported. For example, 33 percent of the vote were married women and they went heavily for Clinton over Obama, 56 percent to 29 percent.Clinton also captured married men — 43 percent to Obama’s 33 percent — and nearly split unmarried men with Obama, 43 percent to 39 percent. She was also big with unmarried women and got 53 percent of their vote, over Obama’s 30 percent.

The most important issue for Democratic voters Tuesday was the economy with 55 percent, followed by Iraq with 24 percent and health care at 18 percent. Clinton beat Obama on all three issues.

Those voters who said “change” was the most important issue — 49 percent of the voters — gave Obama their vote 40 percent to Clinton’s 37 percent. Of those who said they are looking for a candidate who “cares” — 17 percent — Clinton won 42 percent to Obama’s 20 percent. Those who said experience was the necessary characteristic — 21 percent — Clinton trounced Obama 83 percent to 3 percent. Of those who said they wanted a candidate who “can win” — 10 percent — Clinton again won, 59 percent to Obama’s 27 percent.

In terms of what Americans are ready for, 70 percent say they are ready for a black president, while 28 percent said they are not; 82 percent said the country is ready for a woman president, while 18 percent said it is not.

More than 80 percent of Democratic voters say they either want to see an immediate withdrawal or a timetable for troop withdrawal from Iraq. Only 10 percent want to keep troops in Iraq.

As for the recent flap over negative attacks between the Clinton and Obama campaigns in South Carolina, 18 percent said it was Clinton’s fault, 5 percent blame Obama, 46 percent both were to blame and 26 percent said neither was to blame.

President Bush is still popular among a majority of Florida Republicans, 68 percent of whom they have positive feelings for him, while 32 percent say they have negative feelings about Bush. However, only 20 percent said they were “enthusiastic” about Bush while 48 percent said they were satisfied but not enthusiastic and 25 percent said they were dissatisfied but not angry. Of those voters, 45 percent went with McCain.

Most GOP voters — 52 percent — said abortion should be illegal — 35 percent of these voters went for Romney, while 29 percent went for McCain. Forty percent said illegal immigrants should be deported to the country where they came from and 38 percent of those voters went for Romney, with 26 percent going for McCain. The rest of the voters were split — 29 percent to 29 percent — on whether to allow illegal immigrants a chance to gain citizenship or be allowed to stay as temporary workers. McCain won the majority of these voters.

This entry was posted on Tuesday, January 29th, 2008 at 7:09 pm and is filed under Florida, Uncategorized. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.