海角大神

Exit polls were conducted in a number of Super Tuesday states, but we鈥檙e focusing on the Ohio results since it鈥檚 such a critical swing state - and one that Republicans almost certainly will need to win in the fall in order to take the White House. So what do the Ohio exit polls show about the candidates鈥� relative strengths and weaknesses? Read on for Decoder鈥檚 top takeaways鈥�

• No real gender gap: Much has been made about Rick Santorum鈥檚 鈥渨oman problem鈥� stemming from his conservative positions on social issues like birth control. But in Ohio, Santorum didn鈥檛 do that badly with women overall, losing them to Romney by just three points. The one glaring weak spot for him was among single women, who broke for Romney by 17 points. But they only represented 12 percent of the electorate; by contrast, married women, who were 33 percent of the electorate, chose Santorum over Romney by 43 to 39 percent.
• But a striking age gap: This might be the most interesting result of the night. Young people broke for Santorum yesterday. He won voters in the 17-29 age cohort in Ohio overall, beating Romney by nine points - and even beating out perennial youth favorite Ron Paul. Santorum won the 30-44 age cohort by an even bigger margin, beating Romney by 11 points, and he even squeaked out a single-point win in the 45-64 age group. Romney鈥檚 real strength came from the over-65 crowd, where he clobbered Santorum by 16 points.
• And a big religious divide: Santorum won big among evangelical voters, beating Romney by 17 points. Strikingly, though, he once again lost the Catholic vote to Romney, this time by 13 points (which may still be fallout from his comment that John F. Kennedy鈥檚 historic speech about the separation of church and state made him want to 鈥渢hrow up鈥�).
• Romney voters dislike Santorum; Santorum voters dislike Romney: 61 percent of those who said they would be 鈥渄issatisfied鈥� with Santorum as the nominee voted for Romney, while 61 percent of those who would be 鈥渄issatisfied鈥� with a Romney nomination voted for Santorum.
• Santorum鈥檚 got stronger 鈥渁verage Joe鈥� appeal: He beat Romney on who 鈥渂est understands the problems of average Americans鈥� by 12 points.
• But the income divide among the poorest voters isn鈥檛 as big as you鈥檇 think: Among voters making less than $50K a year, Santorum only won by 3 points. Where Santorum cleaned up was among voters making $50-99K a year, beating Romney by 11 points. Romney, on the other hand, continued to post strong numbers among voters making more than $100K a year, winning that group by 14 points.
• The last-minute focus on Romneycare may have given Santorum a boost: Voters who decided 鈥渋n the last few days鈥� went for Romney by five points, but聽those who decided on Election Day itself went for Santorum by 13 points. We wonder if there may have also been something of a Rush Limbaugh backlash at work here.聽

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