# Most interesting national exit poll results

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-interesting-national-exit-poll-results/703756>\
**Category:** Politics & Elections\
**Created:** [November 5, 2014, 1:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-interesting-national-exit-poll-results/703756 "2014-11-05T13:58:28Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 20\
**Page:** 4

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**Author:** ![adaher](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/dec6dc/32.png) [@adaher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/adaher)\
**Post date:** [November 6, 2014, 12:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-interesting-national-exit-poll-results/703756/61 "2014-11-06T00:15:54Z")

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Which will pass even quicker once Republicans stop being homophobic. ALthough I’m not sure that label really applies anymore to any but the hardcore religious right types like Santorum and Huckabee.

However, we will not compromise on the 1st amendment.

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**Author:** ![iiandyiiii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/iiandyiiii/32/7924_2.png) [@iiandyiiii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/iiandyiiii)\
**Post date:** [November 6, 2014, 12:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-interesting-national-exit-poll-results/703756/62 "2014-11-06T00:20:18Z")

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> [@adaher](#):
>
> Which will pass even quicker once Republicans stop being homophobic. ALthough I’m not sure that label really applies anymore to any but the hardcore religious right types like Santorum and Huckabee.

You mean most of the Republican base and about half of their congressmen and senators?

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**Author:** ![adaher](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/dec6dc/32.png) [@adaher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/adaher)\
**Post date:** [November 6, 2014, 8:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-interesting-national-exit-poll-results/703756/63 "2014-11-06T20:33:25Z")

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Although the national numbers looked typical for Republicans with Latinos, the Washington Post reports that in many individual races, aggressive outreach got them a lot of additional Latino votes. Abbott, for example, won 44% of the Latino vote. Texas won’t turn blue for 100 years if that keeps up.

> **[GOP gains traction among Hispanic voters with aggressive outreach campaigns](https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/gop-gains-traction-among-hispanic-voters-with-aggressive-outreach-campaigns/2014/11/05/dcbe20ec-6520-11e4-9fdc-d43b053ecb4d_story.html)**
>
> Republican gains foreshadow the Democrats’ challenge in retaining Latino support in 2016.

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**Author:** ![furt](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/439d5e/32.png) [@furt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/furt)\
**Post date:** [November 7, 2014, 12:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-interesting-national-exit-poll-results/703756/64 "2014-11-07T00:15:26Z")

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Adaher, missing from your analysis is the relevant importance of the various groups.

The GOP losing gays 3:1 is not a big deal; they’re only ~2% of the population. So long as they can stop turning off the much larger group of people who support gay rights, how gays themselves vote is not nearly as big a deal.

Losing Hispanics 2:1, or blacks 8:1 are much bigger problems.

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**Author:** ![adaher](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/dec6dc/32.png) [@adaher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/adaher)\
**Post date:** [November 7, 2014, 12:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-interesting-national-exit-poll-results/703756/65 "2014-11-07T00:23:40Z")

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I agree, but in a 50-50 country, every little bit helps and gays are a group Republicans should be able to win more of given their economic status.

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**Author:** ![adaher](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/dec6dc/32.png) [@adaher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/adaher)\
**Post date:** [November 7, 2014, 12:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-interesting-national-exit-poll-results/703756/66 "2014-11-07T00:43:54Z")

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Since we discussed a little immigration in this thread, news about the President’s intentions is interesting:

[http://online.wsj.com/articles/for-obama-a-harsh-referendum-1415150430](http://online.wsj.com/articles/for-obama-a-harsh-referendum-1415150430)

> [@](#):
>
> ```
> The White House recognizes that a move on immigration could alienate Republicans whose support the president will need for other priorities. White House officials are considering how far the president should go in unilaterally changing immigration policy. To minimize GOP backlash, they plan to have the president make clear that if Congress passes immigration legislation he would immediately roll back his executive orders.
> 
> ```

I’m not sure how wise it would be to do an executive amnesty and take it away. But it does seem like he wants to use the threat to get legislation passed.

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**Author:** ![elucidator](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/8edcca/32.png) [@elucidator](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elucidator)\
**Post date:** [November 7, 2014, 7:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-interesting-national-exit-poll-results/703756/67 "2014-11-07T07:17:59Z")

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Better hurry before the impeachment. Let see, new Congress swears in at noon, Jan. 3. 2015. I’ll take one pm in the pool.

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**Author:** ![JKellyMap](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jkellymap/32/15880_2.png) [@JKellyMap](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JKellyMap)\
**Post date:** [November 7, 2014, 8:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-interesting-national-exit-poll-results/703756/68 "2014-11-07T08:13:02Z")

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> [@elucidator](#):
>
> Better hurry before the impeachment. Let see, new Congress swears in at noon, Jan. 3. 2015. I’ll take one pm in the pool.

Ohpleaseohpleaseohplease

That’s exactly what the American people want their legislators to be doing with their time. Tepid economic rebound? Jobs? War rumbling in the Middle East and Russia? Nobody cares about stuff like that, no siree.

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**Author:** ![adaher](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/dec6dc/32.png) [@adaher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/adaher)\
**Post date:** [November 13, 2014, 12:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-interesting-national-exit-poll-results/703756/69 "2014-11-13T00:48:26Z")

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Monkey Cage finds that Asians didn’t really swing towards Republicans as much as the exit polls showed:

> **[Did Asian Americans switch parties overnight? No.](https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/monkey-cage/wp/2014/11/10/did-asian-americans-switch-parties-overnight-no/?alcmpid=view)**
>
> Don't trust the 2014 exit poll's estimate of how Asian-Americans voted.

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**Author:** ![DigitalC](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ebca7d/32.png) [@DigitalC](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DigitalC)\
**Post date:** [November 13, 2014, 1:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-interesting-national-exit-poll-results/703756/70 "2014-11-13T01:32:14Z")

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> [@adaher](#):
>
> I’m not sure how wise it would be to do an executive amnesty and take it away. But it does seem like he wants to use the threat to get legislation passed.

Well since a) it is not amnesty, it is merely a temporary stay that can be wiped out by the next president at a whim and b) it would be getting replaced by a permanent solution that would affect everyone rather than the selected classes the president will protect I certainly don’t see how anyone could see it as giving something then taking it away.

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**Author:** ![adaher](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/dec6dc/32.png) [@adaher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/adaher)\
**Post date:** [November 13, 2014, 1:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-interesting-national-exit-poll-results/703756/71 "2014-11-13T01:42:21Z")

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Maybe. I’ve been thinking about it lately and it doesn’t actually seem as big a deal as my gut told me. At best, he’d only be able to amnesty a certain percentage, mainly people who would be amnestied in any immigration bill.

Oh yeah, sorry for using the word “amnesty” again. It is a temporary stay of deportation, although in practice it is unlikely to be reversed.

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**Author:** ![DigitalC](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ebca7d/32.png) [@DigitalC](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DigitalC)\
**Post date:** [November 13, 2014, 2:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-interesting-national-exit-poll-results/703756/72 "2014-11-13T02:32:55Z")

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Don’t let your fellow Republicans hear that, it’s going to be one of the main qualifications for getting through the primaries.

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**Author:** ![adaher](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/dec6dc/32.png) [@adaher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/adaher)\
**Post date:** [November 13, 2014, 2:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-interesting-national-exit-poll-results/703756/73 "2014-11-13T02:53:31Z")

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Well, one thing’s for sure, if the President does this the Democrats can kiss a path to citizenship goodbye until the next time they control both elected branches. Assuming they make it a priority. They didn’t last time.

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**Author:** ![DigitalC](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ebca7d/32.png) [@DigitalC](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DigitalC)\
**Post date:** [November 13, 2014, 3:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-interesting-national-exit-poll-results/703756/74 "2014-11-13T03:35:06Z")

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You mean latinos, who will continue to hold your party in disdain. And not passing immigration reform will give your candidates a very tough question to answer in the primaries that will screw them royally in the general.

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**Author:** ![adaher](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/dec6dc/32.png) [@adaher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/adaher)\
**Post date:** [November 13, 2014, 3:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-interesting-national-exit-poll-results/703756/75 "2014-11-13T03:43:18Z")

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When it’s an open sore, sure it works against the GOP. But Obama will already have freed most undocumented immigrants from deportation. Immigration reform is a low priority issue for Americans under any circumstances. If Latinos want to be a one issue constituency, they can enjoy kissing their political power goodbye, along with the Democrats’ fortunes.

Democrats’ mistake is that they seem to think immigration reform is an issue that can be negotiated between the political class and a tiny minority of this country’s citizens. The opinions of non-Latinos on the issue are considered irrelevant. The backlash will be intense, and the immigration activists will continue to be surprised by how many Latinos DON’T vote the way they think they should.

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**Author:** ![JKellyMap](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jkellymap/32/15880_2.png) [@JKellyMap](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JKellyMap)\
**Post date:** [November 13, 2014, 12:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-interesting-national-exit-poll-results/703756/76 "2014-11-13T12:13:41Z")

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> [@adaher](#):
>
> When it’s an open sore, sure it works against the GOP. But Obama will already have freed most undocumented immigrants from deportation. Immigration reform is a low priority issue…
> 
> Democrats’ mistake is that they seem to think immigration reform is an issue that can be negotiated between the political class and a tiny minority of this country’s citizens. The opinions of non-Latinos on the issue are considered irrelevant. The backlash will be intense, and the immigration activists will continue to be surprised by how many Latinos DON’T vote the way they think they should.

I admit I don’t have data on hand to back me up, but I think this is cynically untrue. I know many non-Latinos who are sickened by the chasm between reality and law and how this enables the exploitation and less-than-ideal level of assimilation of the undocumented.

True, it’s the #1 priority of few folks (and not even of all Latinos), but it was widely assumed by Obama supporters (even lukewarm or disenchanted ones) that serious immigration reform would be the achievement of his second term – in a deal where we could give the Republicans as tall a fence as they’d like (or whatever silliness du jour). These voters are, and will be, very disappointed if this doesn’t happen, especially the ones who assumed Obama’s HIGH deportation rate over the years should have given him some bona fides among moderate Republican lawmakers. (There must be such a beast somewhere in the land, no?).

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**Author:** ![Fotheringay-Phipps](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/d9b06d/32.png) [@Fotheringay-Phipps](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fotheringay-Phipps)\
**Post date:** [November 13, 2014, 2:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-interesting-national-exit-poll-results/703756/77 "2014-11-13T14:30:12Z")

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> [@adaher](#):
>
> Maybe. I’ve been thinking about it lately and it doesn’t actually seem as big a deal as my gut told me. At best, he’d only be able to amnesty a certain percentage, mainly people who would be amnestied in any immigration bill.
> 
> Oh yeah, sorry for using the word “amnesty” again. It is a temporary stay of deportation, although in practice it is unlikely to be reversed.

More than that, it would encourage an increase in people sneaking across the border, since it raises the possibility of a permanent stay.

Similar to what happened with the unaccompanied minors.

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**Author:** ![adaher](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/dec6dc/32.png) [@adaher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/adaher)\
**Post date:** [November 14, 2014, 1:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-interesting-national-exit-poll-results/703756/78 "2014-11-14T01:19:07Z")

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I think that’s one reason the President would really like to make a deal, at least if he’s getting good advice, which is questionable these days according to media reports from many sources.

If he takes action and we get a flood of people crossing the border, there’s going to be a huge backlash, and the only person responsible will be the President. And liberals trashing “yahoos” for believing that a sovereign nation should have some say over migration flows, as if that’s some novel(and racist) concept won’t help the Democrats politically in the slightest.

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**Author:** ![elucidator](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/8edcca/32.png) [@elucidator](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elucidator)\
**Post date:** [November 14, 2014, 7:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-interesting-national-exit-poll-results/703756/79 "2014-11-14T07:25:11Z")

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I’m surprised Republican cynics haven’t seen the obvious advantages. Defer deportation for such persons who have been here for some time, worked here, have children here. Defer, not negate, let it dangle above their respectfully bowed heads.

Children born here are citizens, of course, but their parents remain at risk for any disruptive behavior, sort of thing that means you are not really a “team player”. Disturbance, protest, that sort of thing.

Proof of sincerity may take many forms. A willingness to provide assistance and cooperation, information that substantially helps immigration authorities to perform their duty. Probationary guest workers will be keenly motivated to provide solid proof of their commitment to America so they can live in the same country their kids do.

An actual quota system would be distasteful, of course. But a case file that had several such examples of patriotic commitment would certainly be more generously regarded than a file with no such exemplary conduct.

And, of course, minimum wage guidelines can be flexible for persons eager to earn acceptance.

TL:DR Let several millions stay if they agree to be informants. Who better to spot them? And remember, if things go as badly in Mexico as they might, it’ll make all our previous problems look like child’s play. The number of people sneaking across looking for work is too many, people _fleeing_ across in fear of their lives…

A modest proposal.

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**Author:** ![adaher](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/dec6dc/32.png) [@adaher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/adaher)\
**Post date:** [November 14, 2014, 11:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-interesting-national-exit-poll-results/703756/80 "2014-11-14T11:43:00Z")

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Latest details about what the President is considering:

> **[Obama Plan May Allow Millions of Immigrants to Stay and Work in U.S....](https://www.nytimes.com/2014/11/14/us/obama-immigration.html)**
>
> Ignoring Republican protests, President Obama will assert his executive authority to order a broad overhaul of the immigration system, including a plan to give work permits to millions, officials said.

I actually see nothing objectionable here. The Republicans should hold their fire, sticking to perfunctory criticism, if this is as far as he’s going to go.

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