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Think again, think McCain
30/01/2008 17:17 - (SA)
Washington - John McCain's support from Republican moderates, Hispanics and Florida's numerous older voters helped lift him to victory in Florida's Republican presidential primary.
Mitt Romney relied on solid backing from conservatives and people troubled by illegal immigration and abortion, but could not persuade voters he was the one to cure the country's economic ills.
In a blow to Romney, the former Massachusetts governor, McCain led among people who said the economy was the country's number one issue, according to results of an exit poll conducted for The Associated Press and the television networks.
As with most other early voting states so far in the campaign, the troubled economy was cited by Florida Republican voters as the top problem. Romney had been flaunting his finance background as the perfect resume to handle declining real estate values, job losses and a plunging stock market, but 40% of them supported McCain, eight percentage points better than Romney.
McCain also had a clear lead among people who said the economy was in poor condition, while those who said it was fine flocked to Romney.
Appealing to party regulars
In another surprise, Romney and McCain each got a third of people calling themselves Republicans. That marked continued progress for McCain, the Arizona senator who has been relying chiefly on independents, moderates and other groups on the periphery of the Republican Party for his strength. Lately, he has shown signs of appealing to party regulars.
His ability to match Romney with Republicans let him win the race with strong support from people considering themselves independents, who gave him 44% of their votes - nearly double Romney's margin.
As if to cap off his ascension as the race's current front-runner, voters picked McCain as the most electable Republican candidate for the November general election and most qualified to be commander in chief, with more than four in 10 naming him for each.
McCain ended up with a slight advantage among military veterans. The former Navy pilot and Vietnam War prisoner of war had hoped his military background would help him with that group, which was more than one-fourth of the Republican electorate.
As the two men struggled for a triumph that could provide momentum for next week's Super Tuesday voting in more than 20 states, they divided Floridians along generational lines. McCain won among those 65 and older, gaining 41% of their vote, while he and Romney ran about evenly among the rest of the voters. With its vast number of retirees, one-third of Republican voters were at least 65. McCain is 71.
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