20 Point Smackdown in Mississippi

Interestingly, despite the fact that the population is nearly 50/50 white/black, and 25% of white voters said race mattered, and 40% of black voters said race mattered, the overall percentages didn’t change much between those who said race mattered and those who said race didn’t. Obama appears to have gained a tiny bit here, but since most of the people who said race didn’t matter voted for him, I don’t think it made a difference.

Unfortunately, nearly 30% of voters in MS said gender was important, and those who did went for Obama in significantly higher numbers than those who said gender didn’t matter. Much like with race, I don’t think it made that much of a difference, because Obama crushed with the rest of the electorate anyway. And he certainly hasn’t been trying to exploit the fact that Clinton is female.

Overall, the vote margins seemed much more polarized in MS than in OH. The more liberal you are, the more likely you were to vote for Obama. The older and whiter you were, the more likely you were to vote for Clinton. (Republicans who crossed over – 13% of the vote! – went 3-1 for Clinton.) Conversely when compared to Ohio, the less affluent you were, the more likely you were to vote for Obama; I suspect that’s due to the larger base of poor black people.