Dems win moderates, conservatives dominate GOP

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Dems win moderates, conservatives dominate GOP

Here's an interesting takeaway from the exit polls: Democratic candidates for Congress won more votes from self-described moderates than they did from liberals. Meanwhile, Republicans swept to victory on a coalition dominated by conservatives -- two out of every three ballots cast for a GOP candidate on Tuesday was cast by a self-described conservative.

Here's a look at the numbers in graphic form:



In 2006, exit polls showed that 55% of Republicans votes came from conservatives. In 2010, that grew to 66%. At the same time, moderates shrunk from 40% to 31% of their coalition and liberals shrunk from 5% to 3%.

On the other side of the aisle, 47% of Democratic votes came from moderates, down from 54% in 2006. 40% came from liberals, up from 33%. And 13% came from conservatives, up from 12% in 2006.

Overall, Democrats won 55% of the moderate vote compared to 42% for Republicans, down from a 60%/38% split in 2006. Perhaps more significantly, as a share of the electorate, in 2010 moderate turnout dropped significantly while conservative turnout soared. In 2006, 32% of voters were conservative; that number jumped to 41%. Also in 2006, moderates were 47% of voters, dropping to 39% in 2010. Liberals stayed constant at 20%.

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See also the income breakout