Not so evenly divided

Michael Medved writes that the election was more lopsided than it appeared.

An honest examination of election results rebuts conventional wisdom about an evenly divided electorate.

First, the numbers show that Bush's final percentage of the popular vote is closer to 52% than 51%, giving him a margin approaching 5% -- well beyond most predictions.

Second, Bush proved competitive in every corner of the country, while Kerry emphatically did not. Bush received at least 44% of the vote in 45 of the 50 states -- including such Democratic bastions as California, New Jersey and Connecticut -- but Kerry fell below 44% in twenty states, and below 40% in thirteen of those!

Moreover, Kerry's support came disproportionately from four instinctively, unshakably Democratic groups -- blacks, Jews, gays, and Muslims -- who portrayed themselves as menaced victims and voted for Kerry nearly 9 to 1, despite disagreements on most issues.

Among the 80% of the voting population that's neither black, Jewish, Muslim nor gay, Bush carried an overwhelming 63% of the vote.