So what we can learn from the exit polls? Well we can learn that there is a big difference between the typical Kerry supporter and the typical Bush supporter. It is the stark difference between the two that makes the nation so polarized.

Consider these exit poll results:

VOTE BY INCOME	BUSH		KERRY
TOTAL	2004	2004
Less Than $50,000 (45%)	44%	55%
$50,000 or More (55%)	56%	43%

No surprise there.  Middle class and above people supported Bush overwhelmingly.  Those who pay little or no federal income taxes supported Kerry overwhelmingly.

ARE YOU A UNION MEMBER?	BUSH		KERRY
TOTAL	2004	2004
Yes (14%)	38%	61%
No (86%)	54%	45%

What about union people? Those who didn't belong to a union supported Bush very strongly. Something to bear in mind next time one wants to paint Bush supporters as "Sheep" or "brain washed". Unions are, IMO, just as guilty as religious organizations into feeding propaganda to their members.

VOTE BY EDUCATION	BUSH		KERRY
TOTAL	2004	2004
No High School (4%)	49%	50%
H.S. Graduate (22%)	52%	47%
Some College (32%)	54%	46%
College Graduate (26%)	52%	46%
Postgrad Study (16%)	44%	55%

This is a stat I tend to like to bring up when I'm in a debate. Bush leads with those who graduate highschool and go to college. But Democrats tend to have their base amongst those who didn't graduate from high school and those who live in Academia.

VOTE BY CHURCH ATTENDANCE	BUSH		KERRY
TOTAL	2004	2004
More Than Weekly (16%)	64%	35%
Weekly (26%)	58%	41%
Monthly (14%)	50%	49%
A Few Times a Year (28%)	45%	54%
Never (15%)	36%	62%

This is where the Democrats can charge, correctly that the more religious you are, the more likely you are to vote for Bush. And it's true. 42% of Americans go to church once or more per week.

HAVE YOU EVER SERVED IN THE MILITARY?	BUSH		KERRY
TOTAL	2004	2004
Yes (18%)	57%	41%
No (82%)	49%	50%

This should settle this issue once and for all. We had some people on our site trying to say that you should vote for Kerry to "support our troops".  People who have ever served in the military very much supported Bush over Kerry and actually lost amongst those who have never served. I think that says a lot.

ARE YOU MARRIED?	BUSH		KERRY
TOTAL	2004	2004
Yes (63%)	57%	42%
No (37%)	40%	58%

Another key difference.  Basically, married people vote for Republicans. Single people vote for Democrats. And if you have children, the gap actually gets bigger. People who have children at all tend to vote Republican and people without children tend to vote for Democrats.

ARE YOU GAY, LESBIAN OR BISEXUAL?	BUSH			KERRY
TOTAL	2004	2000	2004
Yes (4%)	23%	-2	77%
No (96%)	53%	+3	46%

Bush lost support amongst gays not surprisingly. I like this stat because I've seen many gay activists try to claim that one out of 10 people are gay. In reality, it's more like 1 out out of 30.

GUN OWNER IN HOUSEHOLD?	BUSH		KERRY
TOTAL	2004	2004
Yes (41%)	63%	36%
No (59%)	43%	57%

People with guns really liked Bush. People without them really liked Kerry.

MOST IMPORTANT ISSUE	BUSH		KERRY
TOTAL	2004	2004
Taxes (5%)	57%	43%
Education (4%)	26%	73%
Iraq (15%)	26%	73%
Terrorism (19%)	86%	14%
Economy/Jobs (20%)	18%	80%
Moral Values (22%)	80%	18%
Health Care (8%)	23%	77%

Look at the moral values issue. Bush's strategy hinged on getting evangelical Christians out to vote. And it seems it worked. This strategy allowed Bush to win in Ohio and therefore the country.

Terrorism came in 3rd!

MOST IMPORTANT QUALITY	BUSH		KERRY
TOTAL	2004	2004
Cares About People (9%)	24%	75%
Religious Faith (8%)	91%	8%
Honest/Trustworthy (11%)	70%	29%
Strong Leader (17%)	87%	12%
Intelligent (7%)	9%	91%
Will Bring Change (24%)	5%	95%
Clear Stand on Issue (17%)	79%	20%

Those who care about intelligence as a factor in Presidents like Kerry. They were canceled out by those who want a religious man as President. The warm fuzzy people (cares) voted for Kerry. Those who like candid clear stands canceled them out. Those who care about honesty and strength in leadership voted for Bush. They were nearly canceled out by those who want change.

DECISION TO GO TO WAR IN IRAQ	BUSH			KERRY
TOTAL	2004	2000	2004
Strongly Approve (29%)	94%	n/a	6%
Somewhat Approve (23%)	75%	n/a	24%
Somewhat Disapprove (15%)	25%	n/a	73%
Strongly Disapprove (31%)	5%	n/a	94%

And to fairly definitively answer this question, 52% of Americans support going into Iraq compared to only 46% who disapprove of going into Iraq. That's well outside the margin of error (in an exit poll that was already tilted a bit incorrectly in Kerry's favor based on the actual results). So yes, most Americans are glad we went into Iraq even though most people think things are going poorly.

VOTE IF ONLY BUSH AND KERRY WERE RUNNING	BUSH		KERRY
TOTAL	2004	2004
Kerry (47%)	1%	98%
Bush (51%)	98%	2%
Would Not Have Voted (1%)	29%	38%

BTW, this is the line that should have told people that something was wrong with the exit polls. At the start of the exit polls, if you multiply the % of women times the % of support and the same for men, you came out with a 52% 48% advantage for Kerry.  And yet here you have a fairly good prediction of the actual vote here.

ABORTION SHOULD BE...	BUSH		KERRY
TOTAL	2004	2004
Always Legal (21%)	25%	73%
Mostly Legal (34%)	38%	61%
Mostly Illegal (26%)	73%	26%
Always Illegal (16%)	77%	22%

Here's another key survey.  55% of Americans think abortion should either be mostly legal or mostly illegal. For those who think abortion should always be legal no matter what, Kerry has a huge margin. On mostly legal it tightens up a bit.  But look at the pro-lifer side. Very solid for Bush.

POLICY TOWARD SAME-SEX COUPLES	BUSH		KERRY
TOTAL	2004	2004
Legally Marry (25%)	22%	77%
Civil Unions (35%)	52%	47%
No Legal Recognition (37%)	70%	29%

On those who believe that gays should be allowed to have civil unions, Bush won.  But those who think they should get to marry overwhelmingly support Kerry.

This is an interesting thing since the bulk of Kerry's base aren't married themselves. This is one of those "value" issues that get Republicans steamed. People who actually are married tend to be Republicans and they tend to want to keep marriage between men and women.  Kerry's most vocal base believe gays should get to be married but hey, they're not married themselves.

It falls into line with many other things that make Bush supporters suspicious of Kerry supporters. Kerry supporters, as we've seen, tend to pay a lot less in taxes, but hey, they want all kinds of government programs. Why should they care? They don't have to foot the bill.

And so we see the same pattern here. Kerry voters overwhelmingly support same sex marriage, why should they care? They're not married themselves so what's the big deal about marriage in the first place?

I fall in the civil union camp myself.  And those who believe gays should be able to have civil unions tended to support Bush. But look at the no legal recognition -- 37%. That's the biggest chunk and it was overwhelmingly for Bush just as the other side was for Kerry.

OSAMA BIN LADEN VIDEOTAPE	BUSH		KERRY
TOTAL	2004	2004
Important (56%)	50%	50%
Not Important (44%)	56%	43%

The Osama tape turned out to not help Bush after all.

GOVERNMENT DO MORE TO SOLVE PROBLEMS?	BUSH		KERRY
TOTAL	2004	2004
Yes (46%)	33%	66%
No (49%)	70%	29%

Another suspicion of conservatives conformed. Those who think the government can solve the world's problems tend to overwhelmingly support Kerry while those who don't think that vote for Bush.

Basically the south and west of the United States is a rural or at most suburban culture. They go for Republicans. The North East and the West coast tend to be more urban and so they tend to go for Democrats. Racism is not the issue. It's a cultural values issue that isn't related to race.