What the exit polls tell us

The exit polls are available:

http://www.cnn.com/ELECTION/2008/primaries/results/epolls/index.html#val=NHDEM

And they reveal a REALLY AMAZING THING:
Of the 1955 respondents, 57 % were female.

57 %.

that is simply an astonishingly HUGE HUGE difference from 50 %.

I for one do not believe for even one second that 57 % of NH residents are female.  It might be that 52 % of Dems are females.  But 57 %????

The polls do not show the actual pct going for BO, HC, whatever, but multiplication reveals:

BO: .57 F * .34 BOV + .43 M * .40 BOV = .3658 BOV
HC: .57 F * .46 HCV + .43 M * .29 HCV = .3869 HCV

These percentages are not far off the actual results.  Conclusion: Female turnout was way over 50 %.

So, what we have is 2 facts:

1. HC was supported by a large proportion of women, when looking at the BO v HC contest
2. The female turnout in the race was WAAAA – AAA – AAAAYYYY above what any reasonable person would ever expect.

Finally, one parenthetical note: Anyone who follows elections knows that ballot position can lead to small but important gains.  If you are high, you get 3 %.  HC was above BO.