Highlights of voting in Saturday's Republican primary in South Carolina and the Democratic and GOP caucuses in Nevada, based on interviews with voters entering Nevada polling places and leaving voting areas in South Carolina. All numbers are final.
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THE WOMEN ARE BACK ...
... behind Hillary Rodham Clinton. She won their support over Barack Obama by 51 percent to 38 percent at Nevada's Democratic caucuses. That's a decisive margin because six in 10 voters were female. Obama had edged Clinton among women in Iowa, but she came back and dominated them in New Hampshire.
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THE HEART OF THE PARTY
While John McCain and Mike Huckabee split the votes of those in South Carolina calling themselves Republicans, McCain bettered him among independents, 42 percent to 25 percent. Independents were nearly a fifth of the overall GOP vote in the state.
Huckabee had a 35 percent to 26 percent edge over McCain among South Carolina conservatives, with Mitt Romney and Fred Thompson each getting nearly 20 percent of the conservative vote. Huckabee's biggest advantage was among the very conservative and those conservatives who were also white born-again or evangelical Christians; McCain led among conservatives without those beliefs.
In Nevada, Clinton defeated Obama among self-identified Democrats by 51 percent to 39 percent, and they dominated the caucuses. Independents, usually an Obama strength, leaned toward him but made up fewer than one in five voters. Clinton also led clearly among liberals, who are core Democratic voters and have usually been an Obama strong point.
Republicans and conservatives dominated the Nevada GOP caucuses, and nearly six in 10 preferred Romney.
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RELIGION COUNTS
In South Carolina, Mike Huckabee had a big edge among white born-again and evangelical Christians, winning more than four in 10 of their votes compared with John McCain's one-fourth. They made up just over half the South Carolina Republican vote. Among all other voters there, though, McCain's lead was large -- nearly four in 10, more than double Huckabee's support.
A quarter of Nevada GOP voters were Mormon, and virtually all of them preferred Mitt Romney. Overall, 49 percent of Romney's Nevada votes came from Mormons. Among non-Mormons, he doubled the vote Ron Paul and John McCain each received. National polls have shown Romney's Mormon religion is a problem for significant numbers of Republicans. Romney also led among white born-again and evangelical Christians in Nevada.
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BLACK, WHITE AND BROWN
Clinton carried the Nevada Democratic white vote, winning their support by 52 percent to Obama's 34 percent. They made up nearly two-thirds of the overall caucus vote. In the first serious test between Clinton and Obama over black voters, eight in 10 blacks backed Obama. In Michigan, the only other state to vote so far with substantial numbers of blacks, Clinton only got three in 10 of their votes -- and she was the only major candidate on that ballot.
Nearly two-thirds of Hispanics voted for Clinton -- a disappointment for Obama, who'd received the endorsement of a heavily Hispanic union that represents casino employees.
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ISSUES THAT MATTER
Half of Nevada Democrats named the economy as the most significant problem, making it their overwhelming choice as the country's top issue. About half of them favored Clinton, compared with four in 10 who chose Obama. Clinton also led among those citing health care as the top problem, while she and Obama split the vote of those who picked the Iraq war.
The economy was the biggest issue among South Carolina Republicans, and McCain and Huckabee split those voters. Huckabee led with those citing illegal immigration, while McCain had an overwhelming edge with the few most concerned about the Iraq war.
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THE GENERATION GAP
As he did in Iowa and New Hampshire, Obama did strongly among the party's youngest voters, with a near two-to-one edge over Clinton among those less than age 30. She won the strong allegiance of older Democrats, doubling his percentage among them, and they voted far more often than younger people.
McCain was got strong margins from older voters in South Carolina, winning four in 10 votes of those over 60.
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CH ... CH ... CH ... CHANGES
Half of Nevada Democrats said they were looking for someone who can make changes, the most often-named quality they were seeking in a candidate. Obama was tops among that group, gaining six in 10 of their votes, about double Clinton's share.
But Clinton overwhelmed Obama among the quarter of Nevada Democrats looking for a candidate with the right experience. Practically nine in 10 of them supported Clinton, while fewer than one in 10 chose Obama.
In South Carolina, Huckabee had a big edge among those looking for shared values, voters' favorite candidate quality. McCain got two-thirds of those seeking experience.
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THE MILITARY WEIGHS IN
A quarter of South Carolina's voters were military personnel or veterans, and more than a third of them backed McCain.
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THE UNIONS
Clinton and Obama also split the union vote about evenly, with each getting the support of more than four in 10. John Edwards, who has long courted the union vote, got just 7 percent. Among the seven in 10 Democratic voters who are not in unions, Clinton prevailed.
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SOUTH CAROLINA NATIVES ...
... split about evenly between Huckabee and McCain, but residents from out of state leaned toward McCain.
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THE SILVER MEDAL
Asked who their second choice for the presidential candidate would be, 42 percent of John Edwards' supporters chose Obama, while 33 percent picked Clinton.
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The results were from a poll conducted for AP and the television networks by Edison Media Research and Mitofsky International as voters left 35 voting sites in South Carolina, and entered 20 Republican caucus sites and 30 Democratic ones in Nevada. The South Carolina Republican survey involved interviews with 1,655 voters, with a margin of sampling error of plus or minus 4 percentage points. In Nevada, 833 GOP voters and 1,098 Democrats were interviewed, with a margin of sampling error of plus or minus 5 points for Republicans and 4 points for Democrats.
