How some key groups voted in 2000.(Opinion Pulse)

Polls in the spring and summer of 2004 suggested a very close election in November. For some clues about the 2004 contest, we look below at how some key groups of voters cast their ballots in the excruciatingly close 2000 Presidential contest.

 
The gender gap has becorrip a permanent feature of our politics. 
While neither group is monolithic, men have voted more Republican 
and women more Democratic in each election since 1980. 
 
Percent of 
2000 total vote                     Gore   Bush 
 
48%               Men               42%    53% 
52                Women             54     43 
 
The marriage gap is larger than the gender gap. Married voters 
choose Republicans; unmarried ones (single, widowed, or divorced) 
usually vote Democratic. 
 
Percent of 
2000 total vote                     Gore   Bush 
 
65%               Married           44%    53% 
35                Unmarried         57     38 
 
Since the 1964 election, black voters have supported Democratic 
Presidential candidates by wide margins. Hispanics favored Gore 
in 2000; Asians did, too, but by a smaller margin. 
 
Percent of 
2000 total vote                     Gore   Bush 
 
82%               Whites            42%    54% 
10                Blacks            90     8 
4                 Hispanics         67     31 
2                 Asians            54     41 
 
In 2000, voters in the East Pulled the lever for Gore, while 
Southerners voted for Bush, The Midwest, a battleground this year, was 
closely divided in 2000. 
 
Percent of 
2000 total vote                     Gore   Bush 
 
23%               East              56%    39% 
26    ...