Clinton's W.Va. win fueled by white voters

Published: May 14, 2008 at 7:44 AM
Order reprints
Supporters of Democratic presidential candidate Sen. Hillary Clinton (D-NY) cheer as Clinton delivers remarks after winning the West Virginia primary at a campaign rally in Charleston, West Virginia on May 13, 2008. (UPI Photo/Kevin Dietsch)
Supporters of Democratic presidential candidate Sen. Hillary Clinton (D-NY) cheer as Clinton delivers remarks after winning the West Virginia primary at a campaign rally in Charleston, West Virginia on May 13, 2008. (UPI Photo/Kevin Dietsch) | Enlarge Enlarge
CHARLESTON, W.Va., May 14 (UPI) -- U.S. Sen. Hillary Clinton's landslide win in the West Virginia Democratic Party primary was fueled by support from lower income white voters, an analysis shows.

Clinton, D-N.Y., triumphed Tuesday over Sen. Barack Obama, D-Ill., in the contest partly by her strong appeal to white voters without a college degree, a demographic in which she defeated Obama by 50 percentage points, CNN reported. The same analysis showed her trouncing Obama by 60 percentage points among white voters making less than $30,000 per year.

Clinton did well among women and older voters in West Virginia. Those over 65 came out for her by a 38-percentage-point margin and she held a 51-percentage-point advantage among white women, CNN said.

The network also reported that Clinton's support for a national "gas tax holiday" played well for her, with voters favoring the idea supporting her by a 55 percentage-point margin. Obama had come against the idea.

But the CNN analysis also found an ominous result for the Democrats in their general election hopes against presumptive Republican candidate Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz. Only 38 percent of Clinton's supporters said they would vote for Obama in a general election matchup against McCain, raising the specter of conservative Democrats crossing over to vote for McCain.


© 2008 United Press International, Inc. All Rights Reserved.



UPI NewsTrack Sports (4 min)
Boy, 12, allegedly raped schoolmate (5 min)
UPI NewsTrack TopNews (5 min)
Mickelson withdraws from British Open (9 min)
Grain futures close mixed (16 min)
Couple in Lisa Nowak case set to marry (16 min)
U.S. Sen. Burris says 'no' to re-election (17 min)
fark
Prospect Heights, Illinois Police Department HQ to close to the public on Fridays. Citizens are...
This sounds safe: 500,000 people with access to military weapons, all going through nicotine withdrawal...
"She's an opportunistic gold-digging attention whore," says opportunistic gold-digging attention...
Llost llamas llocated in Llouisville
2001: Teacher fired for sleeping with student. 2003: Hired again by same school. 2006: Fired again...
Drunk man on tractor leads police on wild, 40-minute chase at speeds up to 12 MPH