Early exit polls in Mississippi show economy, Obama on voters’ minds

November 5, 2014 admin News Comments Off on Early exit polls in Mississippi show economy, Obama on voters’ minds
U.S. Sen. Thad Cochran, R-Miss., looks around downtown Jackson, Miss., following his appearance at a block party and support rally for him by the All Citizens of Mississippi, a political action committee that has bought ads promoting Cochran to black voters. Cochran faces three opponents in November's general election. The Mississippi Supreme Court affirmed a lower court's dismissal of Ellisville Republican state Sen. Chris McDaniel's challenge of his loss to incumbent Sen. Thad Cochran in the GOP primary, Friday, Oct. 24, 2014. A lower court had dismissed McDaniel's lawsuit, saying he waited to long to file his challenge of the election. (AP Photo/Rogelio V. Solis)
U.S. Sen. Thad Cochran, R-Miss., looks around downtown Jackson, Miss., following his appearance at a block party and support rally for him by the All Citizens of Mississippi, a political action committee that has bought ads promoting Cochran to black voters. Cochran faces three opponents in November's general election. The Mississippi Supreme Court affirmed a lower court's dismissal of Ellisville Republican state Sen. Chris McDaniel's challenge of his loss to incumbent Sen. Thad Cochran in the GOP primary, Friday, Oct. 24, 2014. A lower court had dismissed McDaniel's lawsuit, saying he waited to long to file his challenge of the election. (AP Photo/Rogelio V. Solis)
U.S. Sen. Thad Cochran, R-Miss., looks around downtown Jackson, Miss., following his appearance at a block party and support rally for him by the All Citizens of Mississippi, a political action committee that has bought ads promoting Cochran to black voters. Cochran faces three opponents in November’s general election. The Mississippi Supreme Court affirmed a lower court’s dismissal of Ellisville Republican state Sen. Chris McDaniel’s challenge of his loss to incumbent Sen. Thad Cochran in the GOP primary, Friday, Oct. 24, 2014. A lower court had dismissed McDaniel’s lawsuit, saying he waited to long to file his challenge of the election. (AP Photo/Rogelio V. Solis)

JACKSON, Mississippi (AP) — Republican Thad Cochran, in winning a seventh term in the U.S. Senate, fared well among those who disapproved of President Barack Obama’s performance and who felt the economy has been getting worse, according to preliminary results of exit polling conducted for The Associated Press and television networks. Cochran surmounted a bitter GOP primary against tea party favorite Chris McDaniel to reach the general election in which he bested Democrat Travis Childers and independent Shawn O’Hara.

Here are preliminary results from exit polling on Tuesday in Mississippi:

WHO LIKED THAD: Cochran did well among white men and woman, people in their 40s and over 65, white evangelical or white born-again Christians and those who say the economy is getting worse and disapprove of President Barrack Obama’s running of the country.

TEA PARTY: Voters identifying with the tea party and lead efforts to unseat Cochran in the June Republican Party primary turned to Cochran in the general election. Eight of 10 people who supported Cochran said they identified strongly with the tea party. Seven of 10 who said they opposed the tea party backed Childers.

OBAMA: Eight of 10 voters for Cochran in Mississippi disapproved of President Barack Obama’s job while an equal number who were pleased with the president’s running of the country voted for Childers.

ECONOMY: Among those supporting Cochran, six of 10 said they were worried about the economy and seven in 10 said they were very worried.

THE PARTIES: People who supported Childers liked the Democratic Party; those who support Cochran liked the Republican Party.

AFFORDABLE HEALTH CARE ACT: Eight of 10 voters for Cochran said the 2010 health care overhaul went too far. Childers’ voters were about evenly split over whether the overhaul didn’t go far enough or was about right.

CHILDERS VS. MCDANIEL: Asked about a fantasy competition between Childers and McDaniel, eight of 10 Childers voters said they would stick with him while eight of 10 who supported Cochran said they would have voted for McDaniel.

The preliminary exit poll of 925 Mississippi voters was conducted for AP and the television networks by Edison Research in a random sample of 15 precincts statewide. Results were subject to sampling error of plus or minus 5 percentage points; it is higher for subgroups.

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