OBJECTS OF DEAN'S AFFECTION?:

Survey data help explain GOP victories in Kentucky, Mississippi (MIKE MOKRZYCKI, November 10, 2003, Associated Press)

The exit polls in the Nov. 4 elections were the first conducted for the National Election Pool, a consortium formed by The Associated Press, ABC, CBS, CNN, Fox and NBC after they disbanded Voter News Service following blown projections in 2000 and computer failures in 2002.

The data weren't released until Monday so that the pollsters -- Edison Media Research and Mitofsky International -- could validate the results from this initial live run of their new systems. An Edison/Mitofsky exit poll in last month's California gubernatorial recall election used older systems.

The surveys in 35 randomly selected precincts in each state included 1,861 interviews in Kentucky and 1,859 in Mississippi. Results are subject to sampling error of plus or minus 3 percentage points, higher for individual groups such as black voters.

In Mississippi, 33 percent of voters were black -- 3 to 6 points higher than in VNS exit polls in the past three presidential elections -- and 94 percent of them voted to re-elect Democratic Gov. Ronnie Musgrove.

But 77 percent of whites backed Barbour, propelling the Washington lobbyist and former national Republican chairman to victory with 53 percent of the overall vote.

Black turnout may have gotten a boost in Mississippi because Democratic nominees in two down-ballot races were black. Both lost, however, as just 8 percent of whites voted for Barbara Blackmon for lieutenant governor and only 22 percent of whites backed Gary Anderson for treasurer.

Man, that's stark.

Posted by Orrin Judd at November 10, 2003 10:08 PM