Bush Gains On 2000 Showing Among Latinos, But Unchanged Among Blacks
Exit polls show President Bush did "as poorly with blacks as he did in 2000, getting only about one in 10 of their votes," according to the AP, but he "did better with Hispanics." Bush "made some progress on that front – getting 40 percent of their votes or a bit higher. Kerry had a 15-point lead over Bush with Hispanics – about half the margin that Democrat Al Gore enjoyed in 2000." The New York Times reports surveys "by Edison Media Research and Mitofsky International showed that nationally, blacks made up about 10 percent of voters at the polls. About 9 in 10 voted for Senator John Kerry."
Vote Said To Validate Bush Strategy Of Courting Base.
In a front-page story, the Washington Post reports yesterday's election results "did in several instances validate important elements of the Bush political model. This strategy has been based from the outset of Bush's term on carefully tending the Republican Party's conservative base, and a governing strategy based more often on trying to vanquish political adversaries rather than split the difference with them." Bush strategists have "calculated that there is not so much difference between base voters and centrist 'swing' voters – both, they maintained, are concerned above all with national security and lower taxes. [That] strategy defied the wisdom of many Democrats since Bill Clinton." Bush's strategy "worked much like it was supposed to, with most Republican-leaning states taken quickly off the table, and battleground Florida falling with relative comfort – 52 percent to 47 percent – into Bush's column. In Ohio, where Kerry and independent liberal groups waged an unprecedented campaign to register and turnout new Democratic voters, Bush responded with an effort of his own that seems to have produced about as many Republican voters in rural and 'collar county' suburban areas."
