5 Exit Poll Highlights From Super Tuesday

Impact

Romney did well on Super Tuesday, winning at least Vermont, Massachusetts, and Virginia. Santorum also had plenty of reasons to be happy, as he won Oklahoma, Tennessee, and possibly North Dakota. 

The overall results from the day were mixed, but here are five lessons to take from the exit poll results from the ten Super Tuesday states. 

1. Romney is trying to get younger, but having mixed results. In Michigan, only the oldest voting bloc favored Romney, and this pattern repeated itself in big Santorum states like Tennessee. But elsewhere in the Super Tuesday race, he did better. He tied with Santorum among the youngest group of voters in Georgia and he got closer in the 45-64 voting bloc. 

2. Santorum is still losing Catholics. Romney did better among Catholic voters than Santorum did in Georgia and in Ohio (so far). In Tennessee, where Santorum won decisively, he only did better than Romney among Catholics by one percentage point. 

3. All my single ladies. Romney always wins among single women (even in the states he loses), where Santorum does better with married women. I think this speaks volumes for how Santorum's stance on contraception and women in the military is playing. 

4. Ron Paul shows improvement. Compared to the votes he received in 2008, Ron Paul is improving. He did better in Virginia (probably becuase he got on the ballot when Santorum and Gingrich didn't, but that counts for something right?), but also in Oklahoma, Tennessee, North Dakota, and even in Massachusetts

5. Romney benefitted from a boost since Michigan and Arizona. The results aren't decisive, but for the most part, voters who decided who to vote for soon after Michigan went for Romney, even in states where Santorum won overall, like in Tennessee

Photo Credit: tychay