The Boston Globe 
Gender, age are found to influence preference
By Stacy Milbouer, Globe Correspondent, 02/21/96
       MANCHESTER, N.H. - Differences in gender, age and religious
       affiliation were all evident in voting patterns in the New
       Hampshire Republican presidential primary, according to exit
       polls.
       
       While a clear majority - 58 percent - of those polled said the
       72-year-old Bob Dole's age had made no difference in their vote,
       35 percent did say that his age hurt the candidate.
       
       Dole was a winner among older voters; 41 percent of polled voters
       age 65 and over voted for Dole. The biggest chunk, 31 percent, of
       the youth vote, ages 18 to 29, went to 54-year-old Lamar
       Alexander, the former governor of Tennessee.
       
       The race was much closer among voters age 45 to 59, 25 percent of
       whom voted for Alexander, 25 percent for Dole and 23 percent for
       56-year-old television and radio commentator Patrick J. Buchanan.
       
       Alexander was the winner among women, taking 28 percent of the
       vote, with Bob Dole close behind at 25 percent followed by
       Buchanan with 22 percent.
       
       The race was also close among male voters, 27 percent of whom
       picked Buchanan, 25 percent Dole and 23 percent Alexander.
       Following a national trend, men accounted for a majority, 56
       percent, of those picking a Republican ballot.
       
       Publisher Steve Forbes, proponent of a flat tax that would exempt
       investment income, ranked a surprising fourth, at 17 percent,
       among voters earning $100,000 or more. Dole, with 31 percent,
       pulled in the biggest chunk among the higher earners, with
       Alexander coming in second with 29 percent of that vote.
       
       A plurality, 32 percent, of middle-income earners polled - those
       making $30,000 to $50,000 a year - voted for Buchanan, with
       Alexander coming in second with 23 percent of these voters.
       
       A plurality, 31 percent, of those at the lower end of the economic
       spectrum, earning between $15,000 and $30,000 a year, cast their
       vote for Buchanan.
       
       Voting was close among those with college degrees. Twenty-seven
       percent voted for Alexander, another 27 percent for Dole and 20
       percent for Buchanan.
       
       Thirty-two percent of those who did not complete college voted for
       Buchanan, with Alexander coming in second with 24 percent.
       
       As predicted, Buchanan pulled in the biggest portion, 51 percent,
       of voters who classified themselves as belonging to the religious
       right.
       
       He also came first with Catholics, 30 percent, and those who said
       they were Christian but not Catholic or Protestant, 37 percent.
       
       Alexander grabbed the plurality, 28 percent, of Protestant votes,
       just two percentage points ahead of Dole.
       
       Not surprisingly, Buchanan won 48 percent of the votes from those
       who said they would like to see abortions banned.
       
       Alexander ranked first, 31 percent, among those who do not want to
       see abortion outlawed.
       
       This story ran on page 15 of the Boston Globe on 02/21/96.
       
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