The tale from Potomac trail

WHO’S CONSERVATIVE ENOUGH?

65% of voters in Virginia’s Republican primary called themselves conservatives. Mike Huckabee won half of their votes, including two-thirds of those who called themselves “very conservative”. In Maryland, conservatives were a similar share of the voters, but McCain did better than Huckabee among them, 44% to 36%. McCain won about half of those who called themselves “somewhat conservative” in both states. 49% of Republican voters in Virginia said McCain’s policies were not conservative enough; 41% said that in Maryland.

THE RUSH LIMBAUGH EFFECT

Republican voters in Virginia who said they frequently listened to conservative talk radio hosts such as Rush Limbaugh voted 51% for Huckabee, while non-listeners voted 57% for McCain. But in Maryland, frequent listeners still supported McCain over Huckabee, 49% to 28%.

RACE AND GENDER

In the Democratic primaries in both states, Illinois Senator Barack Obama won both men and women. In Virginia, he got 68% of men and 60% of women, while in Maryland he got 62% of men and 55% of women. In Virginia, Obama even won among white men, getting 58% of their votes while Hillary Rodham Clinton took her base, white women, by an unusually small margin. In Virginia she got 53% to Obama’s 47% among white women. But in Maryland, Clinton won overall among whites, winning by a wide margin among white women but only tying Obama among white men. Obama’s narrow win among whites in Virginia marked one of his best showings yet among white voters and was the first time he has beat Clinton among whites in a Southern state.

THE YOUTH VOTE

Obama won the votes of 76% of Virginia Democrats under age 30 and 64% in Maryland. In both states, he did better than Clinton in nearly every age group, although Clinton had stronger support among older voters.

READY TO MAKE HISTORY

As they helped decide whether their party will nominate the first woman or first black for president, more than eight in 10 voters in the Maryland and Virginia Democratic primaries said the country is ready to elect a black or female president. Democratic voters in Virginia were a little more likely than their counterparts in Maryland to say the country “definitely” was ready for a black or female president, rather than just “probably” ready. Those few Virginia Democrats who said the country wasn’t ready for a black president voted 63% for Clinton, 58% in Maryland. Those who said the country wasn’t ready for a female president voted 81% for Obama in Virginia, 64% in Maryland.

THE ECONOMY

Voters in both parties in both states most often picked the economy as the most important issue facing the country. Democrats and Republicans had very different views about the condition of the national economy. More than four in 10 Republicans in Virginia and Maryland said the economy was still in good shape, while nine in 10 Democrats in both states said the economy was in bad shape. In Virginia, McCain won among those most concerned about the economy, the war in Iraq and terrorism.

FIRST-TIME VOTERS

37% of voters in the Virginia Democratic primary said they had not voted in a primary before, as did almost one in five voters in the Maryland Democratic primary. In Virginia, first-time voters supported Obama over Clinton in similar proportions to experienced voters.