Sen. John Kerry looks to make a victory of the electoral college, according to all sets of exit polls conducted by a consortium of six media organizations (the National Election Pool) that RAW STORY acquired earlier today, from the six major networks who conducted the polls.
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The first, third and final round give Kerry a wide berth in all critical swing states. The second round put Kerry ahead in Ohio and Florida, but only by a one point margin.
Exit polls, in which voters are interviewed after they vote, typically favor Republicans in early voting, as Republicans by-and-large tend to vote earlier in the day. This may spell bad news for President Bush, though it's also important to consider that early polls are routinely unreliable; they are not actual voting returns. Bush currently leads in actual voting returns.
All of the polls put Kerry ahead in Florida, Ohio, and New Mexico. The two for which polling was available for other states had Kerry ahead in Pennsylvania, Minnesota and Wisconsin. In the polls received, Bush leads in Colorado, Louisiana and Arizona. Iowa is a tie.
A source connected to the White House has dismissed the early polls as "skewed" and told a conservative magazine reporter that Bush would certainly win both Florida and Ohio.
Here are the first exit polls, confirmed from sources in both parties, as leaked to RAW STORY. The first number is the percentage of voters supporting Kerry, the second are those supporting Bush.
AZ 45-55
CO 48-51
LA 42-57
MI 51-48
WI 52-48
PA 60-40
OH 52-48
FL 51-48
MICH 51-47
NM 50-48
MINN 58-40
WISC 52-43
IOWA 49-49
NH 57-41
