At Buzzmachine, Jeff Jarvis notes some "fascinating and surprising data" from the NBC exit poll data. Chief among that: terror wasn't the top issue for voters choosing between Bush and Kerry.
The top issue (21%) was "moral values"; 78% of those who cared about that went for Bush, 19% for Kerry. That's a huge difference. Read this one as you will (MSNBC commentators see it as code for Vietnam and the Swifties).Next: economy/jobs at 20%; 81% preferring Kerry, 17% Bush. So Kerry got much better marks on the economy.
Terror comes in third at 18%; 85% preferring Bush, 15% Kerry. That's the one that amazes me -- not in the Kerry/Bush split but in the importance voters gave it. Bush ran on terrorism; it wasn't No. 1 in the minds of voters; yet he still won.
Kerry, however, wins on the next most important factor - Iraq.
