Dems’ vote equally split; GOP favors Romney, exit polls reveal

Maricopa’s preference for a Republic presidential candidate was becoming clear by 1 p.m. today with 71 percent favoring Mitt Romney of more than 600 votes tallied for Precinct 30, exit polls revealed.

The race between Democratic Party hopefuls Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton, however, was separated by two votes, giving Hillary the marginal lead.

McCain supporters weighed with 18 percent of the Republican vote, with Mike Huckabee and Ron Paul attracting 6 percent and 5 percent respectively.

“It’s crazy,” said Dustin Baldwin, area representative for the Mitt Romney campaign. “The numbers are way more one sided than I expected.”

As with most polls, it was not possible to track the votes of every voter or to monitor all Maricopa precincts. Exit polls, for example, were not available from Maricopa’s other two polling sites in Rancho El Dorado and Cobblestone Farms.

Baldwin said other area leaders who had all volunteered to do exit polls for KFYI News Talk Radio-550 AM, were reporting similar numbers throughout the East Valley.

“That bodes pretty well for Romney,” he said.

A spokesperson for the local Democratic Party has not yet been reached for comment.

Photo by RuthAnn Hogue