White Women Key to Clinton Pennsylvania Win
Compiled by the DiversityInc staff. Date Posted: April 23, 2008
The slugfest between Sens. Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton will go on a while longer. As projected, Clinton took the Pennsylvania primary with a double-digit win that was critical to keeping her campaign afloat. Now the political pundits are asking if the tide has turned or if Obama can deliver a decisive win in the upcoming contests in North Carolina and Indiana.
Pennsylvania broke down along lines that have largely defined the primary battles so far. According to exit polls, Obama captured more than 90 percent of the state's Black voters, but they made up only 14 percent of yesterday's votes, reports CNN. White voters comprised 80 percent of voters, and most voted for Clinton, 60 percent to Obama's 40 percent. In particular, white women, says MSNBC, were the key to Clinton's resounding win. Forty-seven percent of voters were white women, "higher than any other race/gender subgroup. Clinton ended up winning them by more than 30 points, 66%-34%," reports MSNBC.
Obama scored big among "new" Democrats, defined as those not registered with the party at the beginning of the year. Keeping in step with previous contests, Obama continued to garner the support of the majority of younger voters, while Clinton had large support of those 65 and older. Sixty-one percent of those 65 and older gave their support to Clinton.
According to CNN, Obama still leads in the overall delegate count, 1,694 to 1,556. Obama also leads in the popular vote, although the Clinton camp insists her "victories" in the disqualified states of Florida and Michigan would alter that equation.
For Obama to survive, some political analysts are questioning aloud if he must shed his good-guy image and attack Clinton more forcefully. Obama's campaign manager, David Plouffe, told MSNBC they would consider all options. "We've done a lot of counterpunching," he says. "We've been swift and effective. For Democrats, judging how we're going to perform as the nominee, we have been relentless."
Up next are the May 6 contests in North Carolina and Indiana. Early forecasts predict Obama should take North Carolina, but Indiana could play another critical role in determining the Democratic nominee.
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