"The Best Analysis of Election 2008 Yet"

my interpretation (4.00 / 1)

Looking at the 2nd chart, I see
(1) Obama actually did much better than the national average among Evangelical/Born Again Whites here in W.Va., and
(2) Obama got almost exactly the national average among white not-evangelical/born again voters in W.Va.

In fact, the second chart shows that compared to the rest of the country Obama over-performed among White Evangelical / Born Again voters. He got way more of their voters than would be expected by the relationship in this chart. For a state with limited national campaign presence, that's quite something.

Looking at the 1st chart, I see
(1) We have one of the very highest percentages of white evangelical/born again voters in the country. It's hard to win an election if you lose that demographic badly.

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by: Clem Guttata @ Sat Nov 22, 2008 at 18:40:41 PM UTC

I agree 100 percent with the results of these maps..... (4.00 / 1)

The main difference between Appalachia and the rest of the South is that there wasn't a large African-American population here in W. Virginia to cancel out the white evangelical and in the case of southern W. Virginia especially the white Pentecostal vote as there was in the Deep South states.

Not just that but just as importantly the urban-rural split as well.  

I've also noticed that Obama did much better even here in West Virginia and the rest of Appalachia from my observations with more liberal mainline Christian voters just about everywhere than he did with the more socially conservative Christian voters especially white Pentecostals.

Whereas in the Deep South Obama didn't fare nearly as well among white voters period.

Obama won Virginia and North Carolina in part because of the large numbers of African-American voters there and because both states are probably the most urban states of Appalachia and the Deep South, whereas most of Appalachia and the rest of the Deep South especially is very rural in comparison, without a large number and percentage of black voters.  That explains the numbers in for Kentucky, Tennessee, and Arkansas, which also have less African-American voters than the rest of Appalachia and the Deep South as well.

Obama also fared better in Deep South state Georgia because of the city of Atlanta than either Alabama or Mississippi which are considerably more rural in nature but with significantly much less percentages of white Obama voters than in W. Virginia, Kentucky, Tennessee, and Arkansas...

I also read that Obama just won 10 percent of the white vote in Alabama and was in the teens in most of the Deep South states, while here in Appalachia he won generally around 35 to 45 percent of the white vote in most counties.  But unlike the Deep South Appalachia didn't have a large enough African-American population here to offset that..

15 percent and 40 percent are significantly different percentages aren't they?

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by: bluemcdowell @ Sat Nov 22, 2008 at 22:14:41 PM UTC

Another chart, just for fun (0.00 / 0)

This was not worth a complete diary, so I hope you don't mind a little levity intruding into this serious topic. For the other side I had heard the 76 percent of Republicans just loved Sarah Palin. We probably have all seen this bar graph from Gallup.

Have you ever wondered who those "other" Republicans are? You know, those 23 percenters. Ever wonder if they are the same 23 percenters that still love George Bush? Well, Mudflats, an Alaska blog I have been reading since that fateful meeting near Sedona, found the answer.

We thank you for your passionate, hopeful and articulate advocacy of common sense conservative values.

Even Houston Fox News think they are a little "strange".

More than 100 Californians [I am so-oo disappointed to find this out] are appearing in a new television ad campaign this week that thanks Sarah Palin for her work in the 2008 presidential campaign.
::::::::
I agree that Palin showed her strange brand of "common sense conservative values" during the campaign

Now this is a sub-group that need serious study. Where did they find the one gay black man in California that was willing to be in this? They are going to pay to have this commercial aired. Does her ego really need to be stroked any more? Will you be sharing the Thanksgiving table with anyone in this sub-group?

So what are you going to be thankful for this year?

NFTT: Support My Team or I Will Dance

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by: CA Berkeley WV @ Mon Nov 24, 2008 at 05:07:57 AM UTC