INDIANAPOLIS (BP) — Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton May 6 continued to do well among churchgoers, according to exit polls, despite not having the kind of night her supporters felt she needed to shake up the race and catch frontrunner Barack Obama.
Obama easily won North Carolina, 56-42 percent, while Clinton edged out a victory in Indiana, 51-49 percent.
But among churchgoers, she did better. Clinton won among Protestant weekly churchgoers in North Carolina, 58-39 percent, and among that same group in Indiana, 56-44 percent. The two groups made up 21 percent of the Democratic electorate in North Carolina, 15 percent in Indiana.
She also won among Catholics in both states, 51-48 percent in North Carolina and 61-39 percent in Indiana.
Among all weekly churchgoers — Protestant and non-Protestant — Obama won in North Carolina, 55-43 percent, while the two split in Indiana, each getting 50 percent. Weekly churchgoers made up 49 percent of Democratic voters in North Carolina and 40 percent in Indiana.
Clinton's campaign had hoped to win Indiana easily and to lose North Carolina by a much narrower margin, but neither happened, and several Democratic officials and pundits said the race essentially was over. With 2,025 delegates needed to win the nomination, Obama leads 1,845-1,693, according to a RealClearPolitics. com tally.
Clinton, though, vowed to stay in the race. The next Democratic primary is in West Virginia, where she is favored to win.
“I feel good about how I did with Indiana voters and swing voters in both North Carolina and Indiana,” Clinton told reporters in West Virginia, according to Reuters. “It's a new day. It's a new state and a new election.”
She said she would remain in the race “until there is a nominee,” although she didn't say whether that meant the Democratic National Convention, the Associated Press reported.
Obama posted an impressive performance following a tough two-week stretch of bad news regarding his pastor of 20 years, Jeremiah Wright, who influenced some voters, according to exit polls. In North Carolina, 47 percent of voters said the “situation with Rev. Wright” was very or somewhat important. Among that group, Clinton won, 57-41 percent. In Indiana, 46 percent of voters said the Wright situation was very or somewhat important, and Clinton won among them, 71-29 percent.