Here are the exit polls by income for the 2004 and 2008 elections. Generally they follow the scheme of the support for the candidate getting progressively more toward the Democrat the lower the income sinks.
The minor points of interest I find in this - * The heaviest Nader support in 2004 came from those making six figure salaries. * Also, the voter demographics in the 2008 election seem to have fewer poor and working poor people voting, and more well-to-do people voting, to an extent that makes inflation seem not to be the culprit - in 2004, 23% of voters made less than $30k, 18% made over $100k - in 2008, 18% of voters made less than $30k, 26% of voters made over $100k. I would assume undocumented workers would have some affect on this - the poorest workers are no longer able to vote. * For some reason, the trend towards supporting McCain the higher ones income goes is bucked by the 14-15% of $75-100k income voters, who in both elections seem to be more progressive than their incomes dictate they should be. The major point of interest I find in this - * In 2004, $200k+ incomes favored Bush 63-35%. In 2008, $200k+ incomes favored Obama 52-46%. As 6% of people voting made over $200k+, I doubted that this was much skewed by people fibbing, but to double-check I looked at the highest median household income counties from the 2000 Census and how they voted in 2000. 10 of the 15 favored Obama over McCain, sometimes overwhelmingly (Marin county, CA, 14th richest county, $71306 MHI, 78% Obama, 20% McCain. Montgomery County, MD, 13th richest county, $71551 MHI, 72% Obama, 27% McCain). http://www.cnn.com/ELECTION/2004/pages/results/states/US/P/00/epolls.0.html Income Bush Kerry Nader Under $15,000 (8%) 36.00% 63.00% 0.00% $15-30,000 (15%) 42.00% 57.00% 0.00% $30-50,000 (22%) 49.00% 50.00% 0.00% $50-75,000 (23%) 56.00% 43.00% 0.00% $75-100,000 (14%) 55.00% 45.00% 0.00% $100-150,000 (11%) 57.00% 42.00% 1.00% $150-200,000 (4%) 58.00% 42.00% ? $200,000 or More (3%) 63.00% 35.00% 1.00% http://edition.cnn.com/ELECTION/2008/results/polls/#USP00p1 Income Obama McCain Other Under $15,000 (6%) 73.00% 25.00% 2.00% $15-30,000 (12%) 60.00% 37.00% 3.00% $30-50,000 (19%) 55.00% 43.00% 2.00% $50-75,000 (21%) 48.00% 49.00% 3.00% $75-100,000 (15%) 51.00% 48.00% 1.00% $100-150,000 (14%) 48.00% 51.00% 1.00% $150-200,000 (6%) 48.00% 50.00% 2.00% $200,000 or More (6%) 52.00% 46.00% 2.00% Median HH Income by County - 2000 Census 2008 election by county - CNN Election Center Rank County Median HH Income McCain Obama 1 Douglas County, Colorado $82,929 58% 41% 2 Fairfax County, Virginia $81,050 39% 60% 3 Loudoun County, Virginia $80,648 46% 54% 4 Hunterdon County, New Jersey $79,888 43% 56% 5 Los Alamos County, New Mexico $78,993 53% 46% 6 Morris County, New Jersey $77,340 54% 46% 7 Somerset County, New Jersey $76,933 46% 53% 8 City of Falls Church, Virginia $74,924 29% 70% 9 Santa Clara County, California $74,335 29% 69% 10 Howard County, Maryland $74,167 38% 60% 11 Putnam County, New York $72,279 53% 46% 12 Nassau County, New York $72,030 46% 54% 13 Montgomery County, Maryland $71,551 27% 72% 14 Marin County, California $71,306 20% 78% 15 Fayette County, Georgia $71,227 65% 34% _______________________________________________ pen-l mailing list [email protected] https://lists.csuchico.edu/mailman/listinfo/pen-l
