Early Exit Polling Results: Electorate is More Republican than Democrat

Impact

Election Day finally arrived! And now the voters, the campaigns, and the world no less, are chomping at the bit to discover if there will be a 45th president or a 44th, part deux. Pollsters took early surveys of voters before the ink had dried on many of their ballots at approximately 1,000 polling stations across the country and the results are finally in…and they reveal nothing.

Across several crucial battleground states — Ohio, Virginia, Colorado, and Iowa — exit polls show that the race is still too close to call, which means pundits cannot project winners until a majority of the ballots are counted.

A few key interesting things that do come out of the exit polls include:

60% say economy is the top issue Only a quarter of those surveyed say they are better off than four years ago Electorate is slightly more Republican than 2008

While exit polls often serve as an indicator of where the electorate is leaning, the numbers should still be taken with a grain of salt. In 2004, early exit polling showed Kerry up 4% in Ohio and 4% in Florida too, but George W. Bush ended up winning the Buckeye State 51% to 48% and the Sunshine State 52% to 47%.

Early reporting does show Obama leading in Florida; however, this is with <5% of precincts reporting.

This is going to be a long night for us all ...