Ohio Exit Polls – Clinton Gets the Gang Back Together

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Voting is staying open late in Ohio due to some nasty weather, but the networks have their exit polls out. Clinton is putting her old coalition (that Obama was meticulously dismantling) back together.

Whites were 75% of the vote — they went 61-38 for Clinton over Obama.

Blacks were 19% of the vote — they went 89-11 for Obama over Clinton.

Voters 44 and under went for Obama. Voters 45 and older went for Clinton.

Men were just 41% of the vote — they went 52-47 for Obama.

Women were 59% of the vote — they went 54-45 for Clinton.

Clinton won voters making under $50,000 a year. Obama just barely won voter making over $50,000 a year. Clinton’s 50/50 voters are back!

Self-identified Democrats were two-thirds of the vote. They went 53-46 for Clinton. Self-identified Republicans and independents were one-third of the vote. They went roughly 55-45 for Obama.

Clinton won economic voters (the majority) and health care voters (roughly 20%), while Obama won Iraq War voters (also roughly 20%).

I think it’s safe to say that Clinton has arrested Obama’s momentum in Ohio. Looking at these numbers, I would guess Clinton takes the state by a small margin. Clinton has her base back together: women, older voters, low-income voters, and core Democrats.

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WHO DOESN’T LOVE A POSITIVE STORY—OR TWO?

“Great journalism really does make a difference in this world: it can even save kids.”

That’s what a civil rights lawyer wrote to Julia Lurie, the day after her major investigation into a psychiatric hospital chain that uses foster children as “cash cows” published, letting her know he was using her findings that same day in a hearing to keep a child out of one of the facilities we investigated.

That’s awesome. As is the fact that Julia, who spent a full year reporting this challenging story, promptly heard from a Senate committee that will use her work in their own investigation of Universal Health Services. There’s no doubt her revelations will continue to have a big impact in the months and years to come.

Like another story about Mother Jones’ real-world impact.

This one, a multiyear investigation, published in 2021, exposed conditions in sugar work camps in the Dominican Republic owned by Central Romana—the conglomerate behind brands like C&H and Domino, whose product ends up in our Hershey bars and other sweets. A year ago, the Biden administration banned sugar imports from Central Romana. And just recently, we learned of a previously undisclosed investigation from the Department of Homeland Security, looking into working conditions at Central Romana. How big of a deal is this?

“This could be the first time a corporation would be held criminally liable for forced labor in their own supply chains,” according to a retired special agent we talked to.

Wow.

And it is only because Mother Jones is funded primarily by donations from readers that we can mount ambitious, yearlong—or more—investigations like these two stories that are making waves.

About that: It’s unfathomably hard in the news business right now, and we came up about $28,000 short during our recent fall fundraising campaign. We simply have to make that up soon to avoid falling further behind than can be made up for, or needing to somehow trim $1 million from our budget, like happened last year.

If you can, please support the reporting you get from Mother Jones—that exists to make a difference, not a profit—with a donation of any amount today. We need more donations than normal to come in from this specific blurb to help close our funding gap before it gets any bigger.

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