Racial polarization among Mississippi Democrats should come as no surprise to students of southern politics. But the just-released exit polls show especially sharp differences in the Clinton versus Obama margins between whites and blacks. Among white voters, Clinton won 72 percent to 27 percent, while black voters chose Obama 91 percent to 9 percent. Blacks and whites constituted almost equal proportions of the state’s primary electorate today (whites 49 percent and blacks 48 percent). Late deciders (those who made a decision in the last week) broke slightly for Senator Clinton, 54 percent to 44 percent. But only a relatively small proportion of the electorate (14 percent) fell into this “late decider” category. A majority of Mississippi Democrats (54 percent) also said they thought Obama was better qualified to be commander in chief, while 43 percent said Senator Clinton was better qualified. And it looks like Obama had that “inspiration thing” going for him again: 68 percent of Mississippi voters said the Illinois Senator inspired them, while only 47 percent felt that way about Senator Clinton.
