Gaps and the 2008 Democratic Primaries

In a paper at the just-concluded annual meeting of the Western Political Science Association, Patrick Fisher finds:

Despite the considerable amount of attention given to the gender gap, a number of demographic gaps were more significant. Race was by far the most important demographic gap and a key component of Obama’s victory was his tremendous support from African-American voters. State political culture was also an important determinant of Obama’s relative level of support, with states that are characterized as a moralistic political culture more likely to have given Obama a great share of the primary vote.