One president-elect. A bluer House and Senate (although not as blue as Democrats wanted). Who else won Tuesday night?
Young voters: The truest measure of a voting group's enthusiasm is turnout percentage. Final numbers won't be available for a while, but an early peek shows that Barack Obama did what no recent Democrat has been able to do - get young voters to vote.
North Carolina exit polls show that about 55 percent of N.C. voters ages 18-24 cast ballots in the 2008 general election. Preliminary estimates from civic youth organization CIRCLE show similar numbers nationwide. In 2004, only 47 percent of young U.S. voters turned out - and only 36 percent in 2000.
Exit polls in some battleground states showed young voters cast almost one out of every five ballots, far more than in any other election since 1972, when 18-year-olds won the right to vote.
"For us as young people as well as a nation, I think it's a remarkable moment," Heather Smith, executive director of Rock the Vote, tells the Ballot today. "I think we've taken the country into our own hands."
Pollsters: Did you doubt the numbers? Yes, you did. Some of that was skepticism about whether some Americans were actually ready to cast a ballot for a non-traditional candidate. Some of it was that people tend to remember polling failures - and there certainly are some - rather than their overall accuracy.
The evidence from last night showed that polls did a remarkable job at predicting the outcome of national and state numbers. Obama's six-point national margin was forecast by several national tracking polls, which put Obama up 5-7 points on Monday. A composite of battleground polls also predicted too close to call races in North Carolina, Missouri and Indiana, narrow Obama victories in Virginia and Florida, and a larger victories in Pennsylvania.
In fact, if you drew an electoral map based on final surveys, it would look precisely like what we had last night. No surprises. And many relieved pollsters.
The Observer pick 'em winner: No, we haven't forgotten. We're waiting for a final call on the presidential race in North Carolina. When we get it, we'll tally up the results and declare our own winner. No speech necessary.
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11 comments:
The agnostics on polling are believers now.
They have had an epiphany.
Was there any date given when a winner could be declared in North Carolina?
From someone who does not live in North Carolina -- why no reports on why the winner of your electoral votes has still not been determined?
Typical Observer liberal mentality to assume that Barack Obama was responsible for the youth turnout. It couldn't have been the ar, the economy...or any of the issues....anjd heaven forbid that possibley some turned out to vote for McCain. The Observer and its writers consistently show your bias.
Another winner: The Charlotte Observer. Congratulations on the endorsement of Obama/Biden. You picked well. It would be wonderful if we could see a change in approach to reporting that better reflects the perspectives of your readers now and a less conservative bias. Deeper investigative reporting would also be expected of the most popular paper in this growing city. Thanks again!
Since a winner hasn't been declared, Obama is president without North Carolina. It doesn't matter, you all could just be UNC blue!!! hahahahahahahaha
"Anonymous said...
Typical Observer liberal mentality to assume that Barack Obama was responsible for the youth turnout. It couldn't have been the ar, the economy...or any of the issues....anjd heaven forbid that possibley some turned out to vote for McCain. The Observer and its writers consistently show your bias."
Since you are just like most repubs, uninformed, and want to call the Media liberal for reporting facts, here is some info on the youth vote:
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/
27562023/
google search:
http://www.google.com/search?sourceid=navclient&ie=UTF-8&rlz=1T4SUNA_enUS268US268&q=obama+youth+vote
The largest number of new voters voted for Obama and the larger number of that segment that were voters between 18 - 24 voted for Obama. I guess you didn't realize that Obama actually targeted young voters while McCain pretty much ignored them. Why not get some facts and stop trying to blame everything on the liberal media. If McCain had more of a grassroots on the ground campaign he would have maybe reached the young. Obama was advertising in video games for god's sake. He sent emails and text messages, while McCain was making robocalls. Which effort probably did a better job of reaching the youth.
But as with most repubs, it's the liberal medias fault, not John McCains for running a 2000 style campaign in 2008. Sorry but the world has changed a great deal in 8years to bad McCain hasn't.
I am what would be considered a youth voter and proudly voted for McCain. Obama was most certainly not responsible for my showing up at the polls. That being said, I'm hoping that the older voters who voted for McCain and are seemingly hostile about the outcome will channel their anger to support the newly elected. He may not have been your choice, but being bitter for 4 years makes nothing better. I also hope that democrats will have a little more humility and remember what it was like in the previous 2 elections before this when your candidate didn't win. I am happy for you that your candidate won, but gloating doesn't look good on anyone. You need to work just as hard as republicans to come together and live peaceably with your fellow citizens.
When I win the election contest, can we go to Red Lobster? I can taste those fried clams now!
Hey anonymous, the young voters turned out because they were inspired and enthusiastic about Barack Obama. Without that passion, the numbers would have looked the same as they have looked in the past.
Barack Obama played a big role in getting young voters to turn out. So did other factors.
Particularly, the fact that these young people are not the same young people of 2000. The 18-24 crowd of 2000 is now the the 26-32 crowd. The 18-24 crowd now was the 10-16 crowd in 2000.
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