Boston Globe: Exits Look Good For Romney
Indy numbers low ...
Not great news for McCain ...
Early exit polling from Michigan appears to bode well for Mitt Romney and ill for John McCain.
McCain won the Republican primary in 2000, thanks largely to support from independents and Democrats who crossed over.
But while independents made up 35 percent of primary voters in 2000, they only comprised about 25 percent of voters today, according to the exit poll, conducted by Edison Media Research and Mitofsky International for The Associated Press and television networks.
While Republicans made up less than half of primary voters in 2000, two-thirds of GOP primary voters surveyed today said they were registered Republicans, according to the exit poll.
Early reports also suggested low turnout, in part because there was no real contest on the Democratic side. That would also appear to favor Romney.
Not surprisingly, the exit poll showed that the economy is by far the most important issue in Michigan, which is suffering from the nation's highest unemployment rate, 7.4 percent in November. McCain, Romney, and Mike Huckabee, the three leading Republicans in the polls, all focused on jobs during the last days of the campaign.
