MANCHESTER, N.H. — Illinois Sen. Barack Obama won his dramatic victory in Thursday night's Iowa Democratic caucuses by bringing an unprecedented number of new voters into the process and dominating many categories of voters, according to a review of data from polls taken of people as they entered the caucuses.
Obama's campaign team released data highlights in a memo Friday. The information came from polls taken by the Associated Press and the TV networks. Here are some findings:
Obama won more female support than Sen. Hillary Clinton of New York, 35 to 30 percent.
Obama beat former Sen. John Edwards of North Carolina among voters in union households, 30 to 24 percent.
Young voters, who heavily favored Obama, turned out to caucus at roughly the same level as the 65-plus crowd, which favored Clinton. Previously the senior vote has been five times greater than the under-30 category.
Among voters with household income greater than $50,000, Obama won 41 percent to Clinton's 19 percent and Edwards' 28 percent.
Among voters with household income less than $50,000, Obama won 34 percent, Clinton 32 percent and Edwards 19 percent.
Obama led Clinton by 10 points among caucus-goers who said the economy was their most important issue, and by 9 points among those who consider the Iraq war most pressing.
Obama beat Clinton and Edwards among voters who said health care was the most important issue, winning 34 percent of them to 30 percent for Clinton and 27 percent for Edwards.
Caucus-goers voting for a "change" candidate went with Obama by more than 2 to 1 over Clinton or Edwards.