Rural voters in Pennsylvania stick with Clinton

Sen. Hillary Clinton continued her mastery of rural Democratic voters tonight in Pennsylvania. As she rolled up a margin of 9.4 percentage points over Sen. Barack Obama, with 99 percent of precincts reporting, she won rural areas and small towns by about the same margin that President Bush won them nationwide in 2004: 61 to 39 percent, said the exit poll conducted for news organizations by Edison Media Research and Mitofsky International. (Associated Press photo)

Obama won by more than expected in Philadelphia, and carried the state's big cities by 62 to 38 percent, but those places accounted for only 18 percent of the vote, and he lost the balance of the state. "In white, blue-collar, rural Pennsylvania, Sen. Clinton just thumped him," chief political reporter John King said on CNN. Analyst Bill Schneider said the poll indicated that Obama's remarks about bitter small-town voters had no impact, but former presidential adviser David Gergen disagreed, saying his words at least stalled his momentum as he was catching up to Clinton, and may have hurt him. Here is our take on those remarks, and on the reporting of them.

Obama's remarks touched on guns and religion. The following poll results reflect many demographic factors, but Clinton won gun owners, 62 to 38 percent -- those who don't own guns were evenly divided -- and among all churchgoers, even the occasional. Obama won those who said they never attend services, though among Protestants who attend weekly (10 percent of the poll sample) the vote was evenly divided -- probably a function of African American support for Obama (89 percent of the black vote). Among the 19 percent of voters who said a candidate's race was important to them, 59 percent voted for Clinton and 41 percent for Obama. African Americans made up only 14 percent of the poll sample. Ron Fournier of The Associated Press digs deeper into the poll data and reports, "White voters who cited race supported Clinton over Obama by a 3-to-1 margin." (Read more)

The key to Clinton's victory was suburbs, which accounted for about half the vote. She won them 56 to 44 percent. In places the exit poll classified as "small cities," Clinton won 51-49, within the poll's margin of error. In small towns, 8 percent of the poll, she won 59-41, and in rural areas, 14 percent of the poll, she won 62-38. Among other demographics, age continued to be the key. Clinton won voters over 40, Obama those under 40. Among college graduates, who have been one of Obama's most loyal groups, he won only 51-49, inside the error margin. Among those with any college education, Clinton won 51-49. Obama had the same "edge" among the 49 percent of primary voters who identified themselves as liberals. For the poll results, click here.