Race Had Stong Influence in Ky. Primary

By Alan Fram

Associated Press Writer

May 20, 2008

CBNNews.com - WASHINGTON - Race played a decisive role in Hillary Rodham Clinton's lopsided victory in Tuesday's Democratic presidential primary in Kentucky, the latest contest to emphasize how fierce her rivalry against Barack Obama has become among the party's voters.

Even as Obama edges toward his party's nomination, the Illinois senator showed little progress in chipping away at Clinton's dominance among whites, especially those from the working class. Live Election Results

Seven in 10 whites overall backed Clinton in Kentucky, including about three quarters of those who have not completed college. That made Tuesday's contest one of her stronger performances yet with those blue-collar white voters - little surprise considering Kentucky has one of the country's highest proportions of people who are not college graduates.

In addition, only about four in 10 working-class whites in Kentucky said they would vote for Obama in a matchup with John McCain in the general election. About an equal number said they would support the Republican, and the rest said they would not vote.

It was not just the voters' race, but their racial attitudes, that proved influential.

About one in five whites said race played a role in choosing a candidate Tuesday - on par with results in several other Southern states. Nine in 10 of that group backed Clinton - the highest proportion yet among the 28 states where that question has been asked in exit polls.

Only three in 10 whites who said race was a factor said they would vote for Obama should he oppose McCain in November. Nearly four in 10 said they would back McCain, while the rest said they wouldn't vote.

Among whites who said race was not a factor in picking a candidate Tuesday, half said they would support Obama over McCain.

As the battle for the Democratic nomination finishes its fifth month, there were signs that some voters are looking beyond contest's end. Just over half of voters said they expect Obama to win the party's nomination - including one in three Clinton backers.

Even so, the distaste each candidate's supporters had for the rival contender was clear, underscoring a challenge the party will face in uniting its voters for the fall election.

Only a third of Clinton backers said they would vote for Obama against McCain, with four in 10 saying they would prefer McCain and the rest not voting. Obama voters seemed more forgiving - seven in 10 said they would vote for Clinton.

Just four in 10 Clinton supporters said she should pick Obama as her running mate should she win the nomination. The same number of Obama backers want Clinton to run as his vice president.

Further illustrating Clinton's dominance in Kentucky, only half of those voting Tuesday said they would support Obama over McCain.

Overall, Clinton dominated Obama across virtually all categories of voters, winning strongly among men, women and whites, as well as people of virtually all income and education levels.

Obama only won clearly among blacks. He and Clinton were running about even among people under age 30 and independents - groups he has won in most states.

Those saying John Edwards' endorsement last week of Obama was important leaned only slightly toward Obama; those saying it was insignificant backed Clinton heavily.

Oregon was also voting Tuesday. With its mail balloting still under way, interviews with voters showed stark contrasts with Kentucky. Only about one in 10 white voters in the state - which is more liberal than Kentucky - said the race of the candidates was important to them.

The Kentucky data came from an exit poll by Edison Media Research and Mitofsky International for The Associated Press and television networks conducted in 30 precincts in the state. The preliminary data was based on 951 people voting in Kentucky's Democratic contest, with a margin of sampling error of plus or minus 5 percentage points.

The Oregon figures came from telephone interviews the companies conducted of 1,201 people voting in that state's contest, with a margin of sampling error of plus or minus 4 points. Oregon votes by mail ballot, and those interviews were conducted from May 12-18.

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