Here is how the past few election cycles voted based on exit polls in terms of political ideology:
Year | Democrat % | Republican % | Independent % | Notes | |||||
2000 | 39 | 35 | 27 | Gore Wins by 0.1% Popular Vote | |||||
2002 | 38 | 40 | 22 | Republicans pick up a few House seats | |||||
2004 | 37 | 37 | 26 | Bush by 3% | |||||
2006 | 38 | 36 | 26 | Democrats make big gains in the House | |||||
2008 | 39 | 32 | 29 | Obama by over 7% | |||||
2010 | 35 | 35 | 29 | Republicans make big gains in the House | |||||
Average | 37.6666667 | 35.83333333 | 26.5 | Democrats by 1.88% | |||||
The difficult thing to measure is what is going to be the breakdown in political ideology in the 2012 Election. Here are some poll figures and some simple manipulations to better understand the data and to break it down by voting ideology, ethnicity, and gender (those results are in bold font):
All Numbers are in % | ||||||||||||||||||
Poll | D | R | I | O | RR | MA | Date | |||||||||||
IPOS/Reuters | 46 | 38 | 19 | 46 | 46 | D 8 | 20-Oct | |||||||||||
Gallup | 38 | 33 | 29 | 46 | 51 | D 5 | Daily | |||||||||||
Rasmussen | 37 | 36 | 33 | 47 | 49 | D 1 | Daily | |||||||||||
NBC | 32 | 26 | 40 | 47 | 47 | D 6 | 21-Oct | |||||||||||
FOX | 38 | 32 | 30 | 45 | 46 | D 6 | 10-Oct | |||||||||||
PEW | 34 | 34 | 29 | 47 | 47 | D 2 | 29-Oct | |||||||||||
National Journal | 36 | 29 | 30 | 47 | 47 | D 7 | 3-Oct | |||||||||||
NPR | 38 | 30 | 32 | 51 | 44 | D 8 | 3-Oct | |||||||||||
CNN | 40 | 32 | 28 | 47 | 48 | D 8 | 25-Oct | |||||||||||
CBS | 34 | 34 | 32 | 48 | 46 | 0 | 22-Oct | |||||||||||
TIPP | 40 | 32 | 28 | 45 | 44 | D 8 | Daily | |||||||||||
Quinnipiac | 36 | 33 | 29 | 49 | 45 | D 3 | 2-Oct | |||||||||||
Battleground | 43 | 41 | 15 | 49 | 49 | D 2 | 29-Oct | |||||||||||
Survey USA | 36 | 33 | 31 | 45 | 48 | D 3 | 22-Oct | |||||||||||
AP/GfK | 31 | 25 | 27 | 45 | 47 | D 6 | 25-Oct | |||||||||||
WA Times | 37 | 35 | 28 | 50 | 47 | D 2 | 22-Oct | |||||||||||
YouGov | 45 | 36 | 20 | 48 | 46 | D 9 | 25-Oct | |||||||||||
ABC | 34 | 29 | 33 | 49 | 49 | D 5 | Daily | |||||||||||
American Research | 40 | 34 | 26 | 49 | 47 | D 4 | 21-Sep | |||||||||||
PPP | 35 | 29 | 29 | 49 | 48 | D 6 | 22-Oct | |||||||||||
UCONN | 44 | 38 | 18 | 48 | 45 | D 6 | 19-Oct | |||||||||||
Poll Average | 38 | 33 | 28 | 47 | 47 | 5 | 0.524 | |||||||||||
2012 Model | 38 | 34 | 28 | 1 | 1 | 1 | ||||||||||||
Poll Scale | 48 | 49 | -0.9 | |||||||||||||||
Poll | DO | RO | IO | DR | RR | IR | MO | FO | MR | FR | WO | NOW | WR | NWR | M | F | W | NW |
IPOS/Reuters | 87 | 4 | 38 | 7 | 92 | 52 | ||||||||||||
Gallup | 91 | 6 | 43 | 6 | 92 | 43 | 42 | 48 | 52 | 45 | 38 | 78 | 56 | 17 | 48 | 52 | 76 | 24 |
Rasmussen | 90 | 6 | 41 | 8 | 92 | 49 | ||||||||||||
NBC | 90 | 7 | 40 | 9 | 92 | 50 | 43 | 51 | 53 | 43 | 36 | 80 | 56 | 17 | 48 | 52 | 74 | 26 |
FOX | 89 | 6 | 32 | 5 | 90 | 44 | 41 | 49 | 51 | 41 | 35 | 79 | 56 | 14 | 47 | 53 | 78 | 22 |
PEW | 94 | 6 | 40 | 5 | 92 | 48 | 44 | 50 | 51 | 44 | 37 | 81 | 57 | 17 | 49 | 51 | 76 | 24 |
National Journal | 91 | 5 | 41 | 6 | 92 | 49 | 42 | 51 | 52 | 44 | 38 | 81 | 55 | 19 | 47 | 53 | 74 | 26 |
NPR | 91 | 4 | 45 | 4 | 91 | 46 | 45 | 55 | 47 | 40 | 40 | 81 | 53 | 17 | 47 | 53 | 74 | 26 |
CNN | 93 | 4 | 41 | 6 | 96 | 49 | 47 | 53 | 50 | 44 | 41 | 73 | 56 | 22 | 47 | 53 | 74 | 26 |
CBS | 92 | 7 | 46 | 6 | 89 | 42 | 47 | 50 | 47 | 45 | 40 | 54 | 47 | 53 | 78 | 22 | ||
TIPP | 87 | 7 | 38 | 7 | 85 | 44 | 46 | 50 | 45 | 40 | 39 | 83 | 51 | 8 | 47 | 53 | 78 | 22 |
Quinnipiac | 94 | 7 | 45 | 5 | 91 | 47 | 42 | 56 | 52 | 38 | 42 | 80 | 53 | 16 | 47 | 53 | 78 | 22 |
Battleground | 92 | 7 | 46 | 7 | 92 | 52 | 40 | 84 | 55 | 14 | 77 | 23 | ||||||
Survey USA | 91 | 6 | 33 | 6 | 90 | 52 | 40 | 49 | 51 | 45 | 38 | 78 | 57 | 17 | 47 | 53 | 78 | 22 |
AP/GfK | 93 | 7 | 43 | 7 | 93 | 57 | 47 | 50 | 51 | 48 | 37 | 71 | 58 | 21 | 50 | 50 | 65 | 28 |
WA Times | 93 | 8 | 42 | 6 | 90 | 49 | 49 | 50 | 47 | 47 | 40 | 80 | 58 | 17 | 47 | 53 | 74 | 26 |
YouGov | 48 | 52 | 73 | 27 | ||||||||||||||
ABC | 93 | 5 | 45 | 7 | 95 | 55 | 43 | 52 | 51 | 44 | 40 | 77 | 55 | 22 | 47 | 53 | 76 | 24 |
American Research | 90 | 6 | 43 | 5 | 92 | 50 | 45 | 52 | 51 | 43 | 41 | 84 | 55 | 16 | 48 | 52 | 77 | 23 |
PPP | 88 | 5 | 40 | 8 | 94 | 53 | 40 | 49 | 53 | 45 | 39 | 78 | 57 | 18 | 46 | 54 | 72 | 28 |
UCONN | 88 | 6 | 37 | 9 | 90 | 38 | 41 | 55 | 53 | 38 | 36 | 83 | 56 | 14 | 48 | 52 | 74 | 26 |
Averages | 91 | 6 | 41 | 6 | 92 | 48 | 44 | 51.2 | 50 | 43.18 | 39 | 79.5 | 55 | 17 | 48 | 53 | 75 | 25 |
2008 Averages | 39 | 32 | 29 | 21 | 27.1 | 24 | 22.884 | 30 | 17.9 | 43 | 3.79 | 46 | 54 | 76 | 24 | |||
2008 Averages | 93 | 7 | 51 | 7 | 93 | 49 | 50 | 57 | 50 | 43 | 45 | 86 | 55 | 14 | 46 | 54 | 76 | 24 |
2010 Averages | 35 | 35 | 29 | 47 | 53 | 78 | 22 | |||||||||||
2012 Model | 38 | 34 | 28 | 38 | 34 | 28 | ||||||||||||
47 | 53 | 78 | 23 | |||||||||||||||
35 | 2 | 11 | 2.5 | 31 | 14 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 0.9 | |||||||||
2012 Model Results | 48 | 47 | 1 | 48 | 46 | 1.615 | 46 | 47 | -0.5 | |||||||||
O | RR | |||||||||||||||||
Poll Ave | 47 | 47 | ||||||||||||||||
Poll Scaled | 48 | 49 | ||||||||||||||||
Poll Affiliation | 48 | 47 | ||||||||||||||||
Poll Gender | 48 | 46 | ||||||||||||||||
Poll Ethnicity | 46 | 47 | ||||||||||||||||
Average | 48 | 47 | ||||||||||||||||
Key | ||||||||||||||||||
All Numbers are in % | ||||||||||||||||||
D - Democrat | ||||||||||||||||||
R - Republican | ||||||||||||||||||
I - Independent | ||||||||||||||||||
O - Obama | ||||||||||||||||||
RR - Romney | ||||||||||||||||||
MA - Margin | ||||||||||||||||||
DO = Democrats for Obama | ||||||||||||||||||
RO - Republicans for Obama | ||||||||||||||||||
IO - Independents for Obama | ||||||||||||||||||
DR - Democrats for Romney | ||||||||||||||||||
RR - Republicans for Romney | ||||||||||||||||||
IR - Independents for Romney | ||||||||||||||||||
MO - Males for Obama | ||||||||||||||||||
FO - Females for Obama | ||||||||||||||||||
MR - Males for Romney | ||||||||||||||||||
FR - Females for Romney | ||||||||||||||||||
WO - Whites for Obama | ||||||||||||||||||
NWO - Non Whites for Obama | ||||||||||||||||||
WR - Whites for Romney | ||||||||||||||||||
NWR - Non Whites for Romney | ||||||||||||||||||
F - Female | ||||||||||||||||||
M - Male | ||||||||||||||||||
W - Whites | ||||||||||||||||||
NW - Non Whites |
No matter how you crunch the national numbers, the state poll numbers continue to look challenging for Romney. Despite moving to the lead in the national poll averages (My poll averages go back a month so Obama has a slight lead but the trend is to Romney), Obama still has a big lead in the Electoral College. Romney has to win Florida, Virginia, and Ohio and those state polls are a statistical tie – and Ohio still seems to favor Obama. In fact, other than North Carolina (Romney 4 points), Florida (Romney 1 point), Colorado (Tie) and Virginia (Tie) Romney is down in all swing states including – Nevada, New Hampshire, Iowa, Wisconsin, and Michigan. And if Romney loses Virginia and or Ohio, he is going to have to win some combination of NV, NH, MI, WI, and IA to win the election. Right now the electoral count is 294 to 244. Good news for Romney is that polls are tightening in Pennsylvania and Minnesota, but Obama still has a 4 to 5 point lead. This may give Romney more options to get to 270 but time is running out as the Romney camp tries to expand their electoral map chances. My internal polling methods have Romney ahead in Florida by 1.2% and Obama ahead in Ohio by 1.1%. If Romney does not win Ohio, his path to the Presidency is going to be hard. I project the final Electoral College count at this time to be 294 to 244 in favor of Obama.
There is still reason for hope. Republicans have become more excited about Romney as the conservative choice for President and polls indicate they are more energized than Democrats because they do not want another 4 years of Obama (look at Gallup Poll demographics and which groups of people are definitely going to vote http://www.gallup.com/poll/154559/US-Presidential-Election-Center.aspx - this says a lot about who is excited about the election). The generic congressional ballot between Democrats and Republicans is even and that is good news for Republicans because they historically trail in this poll. Also, for the first time in the campaign Romney’s favorability ratings are higher than Obama’s. It is all about turnout and maybe Romney can pull off a few state upsets. Are the poll models listed above correct? The average of the last polls by 17 firms has Obama ahead by nearly 0.2% points (47 – 47). However, many of these polls still seem to be oversampling Democrats by large margins when compared to historical trends outlined above. My best guess at an ideological breakdown in 2012 election is 38-D/34-R/29-I (the polls listed above have an average breakdown of 38-D/33-R/28-I). If that is the case when this election modeled using these numbers we get the following:
Obama – 48% / Romney 49% (Romney by 1%)
Also, using the above data in the polls when broken out by party, gender, and race (not all polls give this data) then my models show the following (I am expecting 53% / 47% margin for women and a 77.5% / 22.5% margin for white versus non-white voters in 2012).
By Party: Obama 48% / Romney 47% (0.5% advantage for Obama)
By Gender: Obama 48% / Romney 46% (1.3% advantage for Obama)
By Ethnicity: Obama 47% / Romney 47% (0.5% average for Romney)
There you have it. I have modeled the polls 5 ways and Obama comes out on top in 3. If I average all 5 methods then we are in a dead heat: Obama 47%, Romney 47% (actual spread is less than 0.1%). If Democrats only have a 3% advantage on Election Day, well Romney can win the popular vote hands down. If voter turnout favors Republicans as both Gallup and Rasmussen polls suggest then Romney will win the popular vote easily. But the Electoral College is another story – but if voter turnout favors Republicans Romney should win the Electoral College. At this point I see Romney winning the popular vote 48.9% to 48.8% with 2.3% voting for another candidate.