National Exit Polls Reveal an Extraordinarily Divided Electorate

Obama began his 2012 presidential victory speech praising the unity of our nation. Unfortunately, exit polls reveal a devastatingly polarized electorate propelled him to victory.

Obama declared:

[Our nation] moves forward because you reaffirmed the spirit that has triumphed over war and depression…the belief that while each of us will pursue our own individual dreams, we are an American family and we rise or fall together as one nation and as one people.

But Obama failed to win modest margins across most demographic and political groups. Instead, he won big among some and Romney won big among others. According the national exit polls, Obama won big among young Americans, women, Latinos, African Americans, LGBT, unmarrieds, those making les than 50,000 a year, urban areas and the secular, and he did so with significant margins. In contrast, Romney won big among the religious, married, rural, older, and Caucasians. It's extraordinarily sad that demographic groups' voting was so polarized.