Gender
In the 2004 presidential elections in the USA, 3% more women voted for Kerry than
Bush. In the 2008 elections however 12% more women voted for Obama than McCain.
However, 9% more men voted for Bush than Kerry in 2004, but in 2008 more or less the
same percentage voted for Obama as McCain.
Geographical Location
In 2004, most of the central states of the USA voted in favour of Bush, but in 2008
states that went to McCain were very much limited to the central and Southern states
In 2004 Kerry only won states in the West and North East of the country but in 2008
Obama managed to win 7 states which had previously been Republican states.
Christina McGrane
How gender and race affected the 2008 US Elections.
Women are important to the elections as more women tend to vote. In past elections
women have favoured the Democrats; this is still seen to be true just less defined. In
the 2008 elections Democrats won 56% of the women’s vote. Also just over 40% of
whites, a huge 95% of blacks and around 65% of Hispanics/Latino voted Democrat.
Therefore women and ethnic minorities were essential for the democrat win.
Geographical support in the 2008 US Elections.
The democrats won with 365 Electoral College votes. In the north east democrats were
favoured. In the south east Florida also favoured the Democrats. The majority of the
west states supported the Democrats. Colorado and New Mexico were the two central
southern states who favoured the Democrats.
Juliet Lamb
Gender And Race
The female vote is important because there are more female voters then there are male
voters. In 2004, 54% of voters were women.
Married women voted 50% voting for the Democrats, and 49% voted Republican. Women
with children and working mums also favoured the Democrats, with 55% supporting
them.
95% of black voters voted democrat as did 66% of Hispanic voters. 43% of white
voters also voted democrat.
Katie Moss
5F1
Changing Political Support
In the US Election in 2008, first time voters voted in favour of Barack Obama with a
majority of 68%, compared to the Republicans 31%, which was an increase from John
Kerry’s advantage of 53% in the 2004 election.
Obama appealed to the younger population because he was the younger candidate and
they saw him as being the better option for bringing a fresh start and a change in US
politics.
Obama also gained majorities in the 18-29 year olds, 30-44 year olds and 45-64 year
olds, with majorities of 69%, 54% and 52% respectively. Most of this support was due
to Obama’s policies on the economy. 62% of voters said that the economy was the
biggest issue facing the US and they saw Obama as the best candidate to sort out the
global economy problem.
However, John McCain retained the advantage among old voters, who had stuck with the
Republican Party. Although, he lost the support from the middle aged who had
supported George W. Bush in the 2004 elections. In 2004, the Republican party relied
on their support from policies on Iraq, with Bush using the Iraq situation to gain most of
his votes. However, in 2008, Iraq wasn’t the biggest issue and they therefore lost a lot
of votes, with people demanding a change in party and leadership with Barack Obama
and the Democratic Party.
David Welsh
Change in religious support from 2004 to 2008
In 2008, Catholics moved in a democratic direction supporting Obama over McCain (54%
vs. 45%). In 2004 however, Catholics favoured the Republican vote. (52% vs.47%).
Although precise figures are not available, early exit polls show that Obama did
particularly well among Latino Catholics.
Obama also performed somewhat better than Kerry among Protestants. Overall, 45% of
Protestants voted for the Democrat, an increase of five points since 2004. Obama's
gains were smaller among white Protestants, however, with 34% voting for him,
compared with 32% who voted for Kerry.
Maya Howell
Blacks and Turnout 6.7 - Update
There are a number of reasons as to why fewer black voters have turned out in previous
elections. Many suffered from apathy and felt alienated by the system. Many blacks
had experienced limited social and economic improvement; therefore they believed
there was little point in voting. Reasons given for not voting included things like:
“my vote does not count”
“politicians talk down to me, they do not listen”
“candidates don’t care about me, just my vote”
However this year Obama changed many of these views by succeeding in mobilising
African-American voters to his cause to an unprecedented extent, although they were
already strongly Democratic.
He won 95% of the black vote, compared to just 4% for John McCain. And he has also
built up a big advantage among Hispanic voters, whom Bush partly succeeded in winning
over in 2004.
Another issue is lifestyle. Many Blacks before the 2008 election did not buy newspapers
and did not watch the news so they did not know there was an election going on.
However, in this year’s election, people knew of a black candidate, Obama, who was
standing up for black rights primarily, which had never happened before. Because of
this, black people got very involved in the 08 election and the Democrats led 66% to
31% among these voters, their best-ever result, compared to a 60-40 split in 2004.
Carrie Evans
The Religious Right
The “religious right” is a term used to describe the spectrum of right-wing Christians
who have strong conservative social and political values. They vote on the basis of a
candidate’s views on issues such as religion in schools, abortion and gay marriages. These
voters would be against gay marriage and abortion and would see the family as a main
part of American life. Views like this are very important to white voters and Hispanics.
This group may prefer to vote Republican as they support the religious right
policies where as the Democrats have become associated with a pro-abortion and progay marriage image. In the 2008 election the Republicans held on to the evangelical
Christian vote as they voted 3:1 for McCain despite attempts by Obama to win their
vote.
After the election on 2000 the Republicans set out to win the vote of the four
million evangelical Christians that had not voted. Their strategy was based on a message
of traditional values and a faith-based leadership. The Republican strategy has worked
in some states. Hispanic support increased and Catholic support increased from 47% to
52% despite the Democrat candidate being Catholic. In 2004 the Republicans won Ohio
and the White House because of this strategy.
Megan Edwards
6.4 Changing political support
The balance of support for democrats and republicans between 1955 and 1995 was the
democrats they the majority party in both houses of congress with the exception of
the Senate between 1981 and 1987 but had a republican president. In 2000 there was a
republican president, George Bush. But this year it has changed to a Democrat
president- Barack Obama.
 There has been changing support from young voters:
Obama won the votes from those under 30 by 66% to 31%, which is much higher than
any other previous elections. This compares to just a slight advantage that the
Democrats had in this age group in 2004, when John Kerry won new voters by 53% to
46%.
 There has been changing political support between non-white voters:
Obama has succeeded in mobilising African-American voters to his cause to an
unprecedented extent, although they were already strongly Democratic.
He won 95% of the black vote, compared to just 4% for McCain.
There has also been a difference in the voting of Hispanics, in 2004 Bush won their
majority support, while in 2008 Obama built up a big advantage among Hispanic voters.
The Democrats led 66% to 31% among these voters, their best-ever result, compared to
a 60-40 split in 2004.
Mr McCain led slightly among white voters, by 55% to 43%, but Mr Obama cut the
Republican lead among this group compared with the 2004 election.
 Political change between gender:
Barack Obama exceeded the average democratic plus with women. Mr Obama won 56%
of the female vote, compared with 51% of women who voted for John Kerry last time.
He managed to boost men’s votes for the Democrat’s as he fought a virtually even
battle among men, who went extremely Republican in 2004.
Jennifer McMillan
Changing Political Support
From 1955 to 1995 the Democrats were the majority part in Congress however this
changed in 2007 when the Democrats were elected the majority party in both houses.
In the 2008 election the Democrats kept the majority and also elected a Democrat
President. This will help Obama pass new laws through the houses as he will have the
most support in each house.
Since 1995 the Republican Party became more popular as it was more in tune with issues
concerning white Middle America. The Democrats came to be identified with the poor
and ethnic minorities. However since the recent economic downturn and changing
attitudes towards the Iraq war the Democrats consistent message of change appealed
to the nice out of ten Americans who believed their country was “on the wrong track”.
Exit polls suggested more people trusted Obama to fix the economy and help those less
wealthy.
Election update: Exit Poll- Race
52% of white people voted John McCain (Republican) and 45% voted Barack Obama
(Democrats).
2% of black voters voted for John McCain, 95% voted Obama. 30% of Hispanics/ Latino
voted Republican compared to the 70% for Democrats.
Woman traditionally have been more likely to vote Democrat. in 1996, 54% of woman
voters supported Democrats, however in 2004 Democrats won by a narrow lead, (51%
democrat, compared to 48% for Republicans).
Jack Ormston
Election updates
Barack Obama got the majority of first time voters with 70% compared to the very
little 30% John McCain got however this is no surprise as Obama had campaigned
towards the first time voters and young voters traditionally vote democratic.
The Hispanic votes Obama won over the majority of Hispanic voters with 66% to 31%
which is better than the 2004 elections in which
George W Bush only won 60% of the Hispanic vote.
The Democrats won 28 states compared to the 22 states to the Republicans. Missouri
was late in announcing their results as it was such a close call. In the end it didn’t
matter who won the state as Obama had won by such a majority. (McCain won the state)
Over three quarters of Evangelical Christians voted Republican, despite Barack Obama’s
hard attempts to win over the religious vote which reflects the previous two elections.
Julie Thorburn