Looking at the exit polls from this past election there were many things that were different compared to previous elections. The only group that prevailed for John McCain was the 65 and older age group. In past elections while this group has normally been more conservative leaning others who have also been shifted towards Obama and the Democratic party.

There was a strong support coming from minority and young voters for Obama which in the past hasn't been very strong. Also another biggie for Obama was the first time voters and the number of minority voters that came out this election.

Looking at some things from our readings and the exit polls they are pretty accurate. For gender and race, males voted 49% for Obama while 56% of females voted for Obama. This goes to show that the gender gap is continuing to be open and not as close as it was back in the 60's.
As for race this could be the most promintent gap with black males voting for Obama 95% compared to white males who voted for him 41% of the time. This is by far one of the widest "gaps." And the same goes for white women compared to black women.

Looking at race alone Whites tended to be more evenly divided with 43% to Obama and 55% to McCain. For African American's this was 95% to Obama and only 4% to McCain. All other minorities as well had over 60% of the vote going towards Obama.

Looking at the exit polls and refering to our readings this week the gaps for this election seem to be a lot wider than those of previous elections. The most prominent seems to be race. This election could be the most talked about and publicized in all of presidential history for the simple fact that in this election there were a lot more first time voters as well and minorities and young people who exercised their right to vote.