Primaries
NY: Historic Turnout
Updated: 1:24 a.m.
By Spencer S. Hsu
New York Democrats turned out in record numbers, surpassing the state presidential primary record set in 1988 in sending home state Sen. Hillary Clinton (D-N.Y.) to a 59 percent to 40 percent victory over Sen. Barack Obama (D-Ill.).
Republicans fell short of their peak results in 2000, giving Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) 51 percent, former Massachusetts governor Mitt Romney 28 percent and former Arkansas governor Mike Huckabee 11 percent of the vote.
With 99 percent of precincts reporting, 1,740,129 million of 5.4 million enrolled Democrats voted, according to unofficial results, topping the 1,561,103 registered party members who cast ballots in 1988 when former Massachusetts governor Michael Dukakis defeated Rev. Jesse Jackson.
Turnout was roughly 32 percent, far more than the 715,633 of enrolled party members, or 12 percent, who voted four years ago.
Republican enthusiasm was dampened by the withdrawal last week of former New York City mayor Rudy Giuliani. With 98 percent of precincts reporting, 600,683 of 3 million Republicans voted, putting turnout unofficially at just over 20 percent. In 2000, 2,161,518 New York Republicans voted, or 70 percent, favoring George W. Bush over McCain.
As of February 1, the New York State Board of Elections reported 11,333,662 enrolled voters, including 5,405,873 Democrats and 3,000,630 Republicans.
Posted at 10:48 PM ET on Feb 5, 2008
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Posted by: OldUncleTom | February 5, 2008 11:39 PM
How pathetic that 30% of registered Democrats showing up to vote is a record. We're not talking about eligible voters but registered voters. If you don't vote, don't complain.
Posted by: drmondo | February 5, 2008 11:07 PM
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Wow, 30% of registry is a record? I am reminded that we are having 8 years of a President that nobody wants. I am beginning to understand how that happens now. Apathy will destroy this country more thoroughly and rapidly than a thousand Al Qaeda's.