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<div class="timestamp">November 9, 2012</div>
<h1>Election Data Dive</h1>
<h6 class="byline">By
<span><span>CHARLES M. BLOW</span></span></h6>
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<p>
Since this may be my last column about the 2012 elections, let’s have some fun. Allow me to arm you with <a href="http://elections.nytimes.com/2012/results/president">a collection of facts and data about the election results</a> that you can use at your next cocktail party, during your next coffee break or during your next P.T.A. meeting. </p>
<p>
First, a comment about the exit polls from which most of these data are
drawn: They were conducted only in 30 states. And, unfortunately, the
balance of states polled tilted heavily toward those won by President
Obama. Of the 25 states Obama won, exit polls were conducted in all but
three. Obama also won the District of Columbia, which had no exit polls.
Of the 24 states Mitt Romney won, exit polls were conducted only in
eight. </p>
<p>
(Obama is leading in Florida, which would be a 26th state won by Obama
and a state for which there are exit polls. However, The New York Times
had not yet called the state at the time of publication.) </p>
<p>
With those caveats, let’s dive in: </p>
<p>
• My analysis of the 2008 election found that even if every black person
in America had stayed home on Election Day, Obama would still have won
the presidency. That’s because the white vote and Hispanic vote were
strong enough to push him over the needed 270 votes to win the Electoral
College. </p>
<p>
This year is a different story. This year, his path to victory required a broader coalition. </p>
<p>
Without the Democratic black vote joining with that of liberal whites
and Hispanics on Tuesday, Obama would likely have lost half the states
that he won. This fact may embolden those who say that the president
should more directly address issues facing the African-American
community. </p>
<p>
• There may have been a backlash against voter suppression laws,
bringing more minorities to the polls, not fewer. The share of Hispanic
voters rose in many states won by Obama. That can be attributed both to
the surging Hispanic population in the country and to the Obama
campaign’s incredible get-out-the-vote operation. It is less clear why
the black vote held steady or grew in many of those states. In Ohio, for
example, blacks jumped from being 11 percent of the voters in 2008 to
15 percent this year. Threaten to steal something, and its owner’s grip
grows tighter. </p>
<p>
• Romney won nine of the 11 states that were once in the Confederacy. </p>
<p>
• Romney also won eight of the 10 states with the lowest population
density: Alaska, Wyoming, Montana, North Dakota, South Dakota, Idaho,
Nebraska and Utah. Obama won New Mexico and Nevada. (Hello. Hello.
Hello. Is there an echo in here?) </p>
<p>
• Romney’s biggest margin of victory came in Utah, home of the Mormon
Church. Utah was one of three states in which Romney won every county.
The other two were West Virginia and Oklahoma. Obama won every county in
four states: Hawaii, Massachusetts, Rhode Island and Vermont. </p>
<p>
• This year was the first presidential election in which there were more
Asian-American voters (11 percent) in California than African-American
ones (8 percent). In 2008, 6 percent were Asian-American and 10 percent
were African-American. In fact, there were more Asian-American voters
than African-American voters in Washington and Oregon, the other two
Pacific Coast states, this year, too. </p>
<p>
• Among the states in which exit polls were conducted, Obama won the
lowest percentage of the white vote in the state with the highest
percentage of black voters. That state was the ever-reliable
Mississippi, where Romney made his famous “I like grits” comment.
Thirty-six percent of the voters in Mississippi are black. Obama won a
mere 10 percent of the white vote there. </p>
<p>
Conversely, Obama won one of his highest percentages of white voters in
the state with the fewest minority voters: Maine. Ninety-five percent of
Maine’s voters were white, and 57 percent of them voted for Obama. That
ties with one other state for the highest percent of whites voting for
Obama: Massachusetts, where 86 percent of the voters are white. </p>
<p>
In fact, Obama won the white vote only in states with small minority
voting populations. The others Obama won were Iowa (93 percent white),
New Hampshire (93 percent white), Oregon (88 percent white), Connecticut
(79 percent white) and Washington State (76 percent white). </p>
<p>
This is quite a curious phenomenon. </p>
<p>
• Obama won all four states that begin with “New” (New Hampshire, New
Jersey, New Mexico and New York), but he lost all five that begin with a
direction (North Carolina, South Carolina, North Dakota, South Dakota
and West Virginia). O.K., I threw that one in for fun. </p>
<p>
Now, political junkies, go forth and spout facts! </p>
<div class="authorIdentification">
<p style="text-align:center">•</p>
<p class="emActive emReady"><span>I invite you to join me on <a href="http://www.facebook.com/CharlesMBlow">Facebook</a> and follow me on <a href="http://twitter.com/CharlesMBlow">Twitter</a>, or e-mail me at <a href="mailto:chblow@nytimes.com">chblow@nytimes.com</a></span>.</p>
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