Union Voters Made Up One-Third of Ohio, Rhode Island Voters

[Omaha Steve]

http://blog.aflcio.org/2008/03/05/union-voters-made-up-one-third-of-ohio-rhode-island-voters/

by Seth Michaels, Mar 5, 2008

Union voters made up 34 percent of Ohio’s voters in last night’s Democratic primary, according to exit polls, and 31 percent of the vote in Rhode Island’s Democratic primary.

More than 3 million voters came out in Ohio, of whom more than 2 million voted in the Democratic primary. Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton (D-N.Y.) won Ohio 54–44 over Sen. Barack Obama (D-Ill.). Union voters supported Clinton by a 55–43 margin over Obama.

In Rhode Island, Clinton won a strong 58–40 victory over Obama, with union voters breaking for her 59–40.



The strong union turnout helped fuel another record-breaking night in yesterday’s primaries, which included Texas and Vermont, where exit polls did not include questions about union membership.

In Texas, more than 2.8 million came out to vote in the Democratic primary, in which Clinton won a 51–48 victory over Obama. The participation in the Texas Democratic primary, notes Ed Sills of the Texas AFL-CIO, is near or above the total Democratic vote in the 2004 general election, and both Clinton and Obama individually earned more votes than all Republicans combined.

As of this morning, Obama was ahead in the Texas caucus, which was held after polls closed. Texas appoints some delegates through its primary and some through the caucus. He won a 60–38 victory in Vermont.


FULL story at link.