This is part of a series of posts analyzing how Mitt Romney’s 2012 coalition has changed from his 2008 coalition. Hopefully such analysis will provide clues as to Romney’s performance in the general election. This post will examine South Carolina, where Romney came in second to Newt Gingrich.

South Carolina

To do that, this post will examine exit polls of the South Carolina primary in 2008 and exit polls of the South Carolina primary in 2012.

We should also note, as has been stated before many times, that these exit polls should be taken with two heavy grains of salt. Exit polls consistently fail when it comes down to something as simple as predicting who will win the election. This fact should always be taken into account when using exit polls to examine much more complex relationships (such as the relationship between income and support for Romney). Only when a pattern appears again and again in multiple exit polls should it be possibly noted as valid.

With that said, let’s begin:

Similarly to previous exit polls in Iowa and New Hampshire, there is no gender gap in Romney’s support.

Next is age. Previous exit polls indicated that Romney’s strongest supporters tend to be the elderly. Was this the case in South Carolina?

Yes indeed.

In New Hampshire education made no difference in support for Romney. In South Carolina:

Education did make a big difference.

Let’s go to income. Romney did consistently better with higher-income voters in Iowa and New Hampshire.

In South Carolina the income gap is about as wide as it was in Iowa and New Hampshire. The fact that Romney got 47% amongst voters making more than $200,000 is quite amazing.

The next question is a bit less interesting:

Romney does a bit better amongst Republicans, something which we also saw in New Hampshire. The gap, however, is quite a bit smaller in South Carolina.

Next is political philosophy:

This is a very interesting question. Romney’s base of support has essentially become the polar opposite of 2008. In Iowa Romney did best amongst somewhat conservative voters; in New Hampshire he did best amongst moderates. Here Romney does best amongst moderates.

The next questions focus on religion:

Unsurprisingly, there’s a large support gap between evangelicals and non-evangelicals.

What about Catholics versus Protestants?

Considering the margins of errors in the exit polls, there’s almost no difference. Romney’s actually closed the gap quite a bit since 2008, which is good news for him.

The next question delves into one of the most important factors behind Romney’s performance in South Carolina:

There’s an enormous gap between those towards whom the religious beliefs of a candidate matter, and those towards whom they don’t. Romney barely breaks into double-digits amongst religious bigots those who care a great deal about a candidate’s religious beliefs. He barely improves from his 2008 performance.

The result above probably explains the responses to the next question:

This is probably a proxy for those who care a great deal about a candidate’s religious beliefs. The more pro-life a voter, the more likely to oppose Romney.

Here’s an interesting question:

There’s slightly greater support amongst veterans and soldiers. It might not great enough to be statistically significant, however.

Next, another question on wealth:

Romney does better amongst voters getting ahead. Unsurprising.

What do people like most about Romney?

Well, it’s definitely not the fact that he’s a true conservative. One should note that the wording of the question in 2012 is slightly different from 2008, so the comparisons may not be valid. Nevertheless, the 2% Romney picks up amongst those looking for a true conservative is quite noticeable.

This question is about when the supporters of Romney decided their vote:

As in Iowa and New Hampshire, Romney does best amongst those who decided early.

Let’s look at the rural-urban gap:

It’s pretty large. Interestingly, Romney does poorly in the suburbs of South Carolina. In New Hampshire the suburbs were the most pro-Romney.

I’m finally going to add a question which did not appear in the 2008 exit poll but nevertheless deserves to be put in this post.

This is the much-noted Bain Capital question. Whilst most Republicans dismissed the negative attacks on Romney’s work with Bain, Romney did terribly amongst those who bought the attack. This suggests a general election weak point with Romney.

Conclusions

Out of all these categories, Romney did best amongst voters making more than $200,000 (47% support). He did worst amongst voters looking for a true conservative (2% support). The greatest gap between Romney supporters and his opposition occurred between voters looking for a true conservative and those looking for an electable candidate (a 35% support gap). If you count the Bain question, then the greatest gap occurs between those who liked Romney’s work at Bain and those who didn’t (a 37% support gap).

In the 2008 Republican primary, on the other hand, Romney did best amongst voters looking for the most electable candidate (33% support). He did worst amongst voters looking for a candidate who says what he believes (7% support). The greatest gap occurred, again, amongst those voters looking for a candidate who says what he believes and those looking for the most electable candidate (a 26% support gap).

A next post will examine the differences between Romney in 2008 and Romney in 2012 with respect to the Florida primary.