Obama Wins SC by a Landslide

Posted by AlterNet Staff, AlterNet at 2:07 PM on January 26, 2008.

Update: With 96% of precincts reporting:

Obama: 55%
Clinton: 26%
Edwards: 18%

As a point of interest, RealClearPolitics' last rolling average of pre-vote SC polls (taken in the last five days) shook out like this:

Obama: 38.4%
Clinton: 26.8%
Edwards: 19.2%

Update: CNN released its exit poll.

Highlights:

Vote by sex:
Men (39%): Obama 55%, Clinton 23%, Edwards 22%
Women (61%): Obama 53%, Clinton 30%, Edwards 16%

Vote by age:
18-29 (13%): Obama 68%, Clinton 23%, Edwards 9%
30-44 (25%): Obama 62%, Clinton 23%, Edwards 15%
45-59 (35%): Obama 55%, Clinton 26%, Edwards 18%
60+ (27%): Obama 37%, Clinton 35%, Edwards 27%

Vote by race and age:
Black, 18-29 (8%): Obama 79%, Clinton 19%, Edwards 2%
Black, 30-44 (16%): Obama 83%, Clinton 16%, Edwards 2%
Black, 45-59 (19%): Obama 80%, Clinton 17%, Edwards 2%
Black, 60+ (9%): Obama 75%, Clinton 21%, Edwards 2%
Non-Black, 18-29 (5%): Obama 52%, Clinton 28%, Edwards 20%
Non-Black, 30-44 (9%): Obama 25%, Clinton 35%, Edwards 39%
Non-Black, 45-59 (16%): Obama 25%, Clinton 38%, Edwards 38%
Non-Black, 60+ (17%): Obama 15%, Clinton 42%, Edwards 40%

CNN's Rebecca Sinderbrand:

The candidate with the greatest white male support was the white man on the ballot. The candidate with the greatest support from white women was the white woman in the race. And black voters overwhelmingly voted for the African-American presidential contender.

But that doesn’t mean a person’s gender or race was a reliable predictor of how they would cast their vote. John Edwards didn’t capture a majority of the white male vote, winning the support of 43 percent of that demographic. And Hillary Clinton didn’t capture a majority of the support from white women, winning 44 percent of their votes.

Barack Obama, however, captured an absolute majority of the black male vote, 82 percent. And despite speculation that black women might be torn between Obama and Hillary Clinton, 79 percent of them voted for the Illinois senator.

See also:

Exit polls: Voters spread blame for campaign trail conflict

Exit polls: Bill Clinton's effect

Exit polls: America ready for black, woman president

Exit polls: Obama wins late deciders

Update, via AP:

"Barack Obama routed Hillary Rodham Clinton in the racially-charged South Carolina primary Saturday night, regaining campaign momentum in the prelude to a February 5 coast-to-coast competition for more than 1,600 Democratic National Convention delegates.

"Former Sen. John Edwards of North Carolina was running third, a sharp setback in the state where he was born and scored a primary victory in his first presidential campaign four years ago.

"The Associated Press made its call based on surveys of voters as they left the polls.

"About half the voters were black, according to polling place interviews, and four out of five of them supported Obama. Black women turned out in particularly large numbers. Clinton and Edwards each won roughly 40 percent of the white vote, with about 25 percent going to Obama, the first-term Illinois senator."

Those exit polls must have been pretty decisive; CNN called the race 3 minutes after the polls closed with 0% of precincts reporting:

(click for larger version)

We're feeling a little verklempt, so talk amongst yourselves.

Updates to follow when the networks make a call and again when exit polls are released.

Meanwhile, be sure to check out our own Steven Rosenfeld on Brave New Films'/ Young Turks' live primary coverage, beginning at 3:00 PST/ 6:00 EST. Steve's scheduled for the 3:30 PST/ 6:30 EST slot. Check it out.

Tagged as: clinton, obama, edwards, south carolina