The Ohio Exit Polls, Results

Tonight's primaries serve as Hillary Clinton's latest last stand against Barack Obama, while John McCain is expected to keep racking up victories for the Republicans. Ohio is a state that is always pivotal to a Presidential election, especially in 2004. Now Ohio serves as a major primary state as well, and is expected to be Clinton's best chance for a victory tonight. If Obama wins both Ohio and Texas, it is expected that the pressure for Clinton to withdraw will increase substantially. Clinton can better make her case to continuing with one win. If Ohio ultimately decides the fate of the Clinton campaign, the exit polls will be extra important to determine how things could turn out.

The sparring matches between the Clinton and Obama camps have made their share of headlines. For Ohio voters, the Obama and Clinton voters shared their opinions about the other candidate. One in seven Obama voters admitted that Clinton had more qualification, while only one in 20 Clinton voters said so about Obama. Four in 10 Clinton voters said they were inspired by Obama.

Trade was a big issue for Ohio voters as well. Obama and Clinton squared off over Clinton's position on NAFTA during the Ohio campaign. In exit polls, eight out of 10 Ohio voters said that international trade takes jobs instead of creating them. However, union voter turnout appears to be down, as they make up a smaller demographic than they did four years ago.

Economic concerns were bigger for Ohio voters than in any other state so far. Six out of 10 Democratic voters named the economy as their biggest concern, while four out of 10 voters were very worried about their family's financial situation. Nine out of 10 Ohio Democratic voters said the economy was in poor shape.

"Change" has been Obama's biggest selling point thus far, while experience has been the strength that Clinton points to the most. In Ohio, the voters wanted a President who could bring about change more than somebody with experience. However, the winning margin was only by 20 points, compared to a 30 point difference in other primaries. In addition, more voters believed that Clinton had "clear and detailed plans" to run the country.

In regards to negative campaigning, Clinton has tended to take more criticism for this issue than Obama. In Ohio the trend continued, as half the early voters accused Clinton of attacking Obama unfairly. For Obama, only four out of 10 voters believe he was the one who attacked Clinton unfairly.

Ohio features more voters that made up their minds early than any other state so far. Most primaries had 44 % of voters that decided who to vote for a month earlier. In Ohio, almost half of the Democratic voters made up their minds that early. Since Obama has taken away so much momentum over the last month, Clinton can take pride in having held on to some supporters in Ohio.

Sources

The Trail- "Economy Tops Again In Exit Polls" blog.washingtonpost.com/the-trail/2008/03/04/economy_tops_again_in_early_ex.html

CBS5- "Dems Name Economy As Top Issue In All 4 States" cbs5.com/campaign08/march.4th.results.2.669388.html

Ohio.com- "Despite rain and floods, voter turnout strong in Ohio primary" www.ohio.com/news/ap

The Guardian- "Explainer: Findings from exit polls" www.guardian.co.uk/world/2008/mar/04/uselections2008.barackobama

ABC News- "Voters Want Change Over Experience, Again" www.abcnews.go.com/PollingUnit/Vote2008/story