2008 Election by Community Size

[RI]

From CNN Exit Polls:

Urban: 63%-35% Obama

Suburban: 50%-48% Obama

Rural: 53%-45% McCain

Grey is not polled/too small of sample size, green is tied.

[Vepres]

From CNN Exit Polls:

Urban: 63%-35% Obama

Suburban: 50%-48% Obama

Rural: 53%-45% McCain

Grey is not polled/too small of sample size, green is tied.

McCain did better with suburbanites. Though I think he did worse than Republicans historically do post-Reagan. Why did he do better among urban voters in New Jersey compared to the rest of the Northeast region?

[Verily]

I would guess because the definition of "urban" is based on population density, and nearly every county in New Jersey is dense enough to be deemed urban. The truly urban areas of NJ (Hudson County and inner Essex, Union, Passaic, Mercer and Camden counties) were very, very strong for Obama. Probably close to 80% Obama overall; over 90% in the urban parts of Essex while over 70% in almost all of the areas I would consider urban.

[Starbucks Union Thug HokeyPuck]

From CNN Exit Polls:

Urban: 63%-35% Obama

Suburban: 50%-48% Obama

Rural: 53%-45% McCain

Grey is not polled/too small of sample size, green is tied.

McCain did better with suburbanites. Though I think he did worse than Republicans historically do post-Reagan. Why did he do better among urban voters in New Jersey compared to the rest of the Northeast region?

New Jersey is entirely urban. 

[Alcon]

I really don't trust these numbers, because of how exit polls are conducted.  I mean, rural South Dakota for Obama?  No.

[Landslide Lyndon]

I really don't trust these numbers, because of how exit polls are conducted.  I mean, rural South Dakota for Obama?  No.

Maybe because of the reservations.

[minionofmidas]

I really don't trust these numbers, because of how exit polls are conducted.  I mean, rural South Dakota for Obama?  No.

I don't see your problem. McCain did get a bigger percentage of the vote from the three largest counties in SD than from the state at large.

[runs away so Alcon can't hurt him]

[Alcon]

I really don't trust these numbers, because of how exit polls are conducted.  I mean, rural South Dakota for Obama?  No.

I don't see your problem. McCain did get a bigger percentage of the vote from the three largest counties in SD than from the state at large.

[runs away so Alcon can't hurt him]

Actually, I'll totally buy (because of Rapid City) Obama doing better in "Small Town" than "Urban," but "Rural" no.

And the reservation counties are a combined 15,000 votes max.  Besides, by and large reservations aren't truly rural.  The residential areas frequently have impressive density.  Although I guess you could argue they're in a rural environment but blablablabla.

I could go about complaining about how locational selection methods make this particularly sub-stat of exit polls (and exit polls in general, arguably) completely useless, but that's a lot of effort to reply to an unserious post

[minionofmidas]

I could go about complaining about how locational selection methods make this particularly sub-stat of exit polls (and exit polls in general, arguably) completely useless, but that's a lot of effort to reply to an unserious post

Unserious, but factually accurate. (The second sentence anyways.)

[nclib]

According to the Census metro/non-metro definition, Obama did not win non-metro South Dakota, but did slightly better than in metro S.D.

S. Dak. metro

McCain 53.30%
Obama 44.70%

S. Dak. non-metro

McCain 52.78%
Obama 44.88%

I wonder if in any other state did Obama's non-metro performance beat his metro performance (S.C., N. H., Wisc.)? At the other end, the largest gaps are probably Md., Ore., and Neb.

[DariusNJ]

Yeah, but there definitions of urban are pretty weird. McCain winning "urban" areas in Louisiana, when there's New Orleans? No way.