1. North Carolina's Amendment #1, to define marriage as between one man and one woman and to ban any other type of domestic partnerships, passed overwhelmingly.
Ballotpedia lists the final results:
1,303,952 (61.05%) YES
831,788 (38.95%) NO
The National Journal said the proposal received strong support from African-Americans. In one heavily black county, for example, Amendment #1 received over 70% of the vote.
This was the same pattern as in California in November 2008, where a majority of whites voted against the Marriage Amendment to the state constitution, but the proposal passed because of the heavy support it received from blacks who were turning out in large numbers to vote for Obama.
2. In the latest presidential primaries, Mitt Romney racked up wins of 64.7% in Indiana, 65.7% in North Carolina, and 69.6% in West Virginia, while collecting 88 more delegates.
The New York Times provided the complete results from these three states:
Indiana
413,657 (64.7%) Mitt Romney (28 delegates)
99,628 (15.6%) Ron Paul
85,255 (13.3%) Rick Santorum
41,087 ( 6.4%) Newt Gingrich
634,902 (65.7%) Romney (37 delegates)
107,109 (11.1%) Paul (6 delegates)
100,690 (10.4%) Santorum (6 delegates)
73,867 ( 7.6%) Gingrich (4 delegates)
50,333 ( 5.2%) Others
77,477 (69.6%) Romney (23 delegates)
13,408 (12.1%) Santorum (2 delegates)
12,263 (11.0%) Paul
6,986 ( 6.3%) Gingrich
1,129 ( 1.0%) Others
The totals for all three states were:
1,126,036 (65.6%) Romney
219,000 (12.7%) Paul
199,353 (11.6%) Santorum
121,940 ( 7.1%) Gingrich
51,462 ( 3.0%) Others
1,717,791 total votes
According to the Green Papers, the total popular vote for all states so far is:
6,326,982 (44.3%) Romney
3,574,588 (25.0%) Santorum
2,524,815 (17.7%) Gingrich
1,549,872 (10.9%) Paul
75,223 ( 0.5%) Jon Huntsman
54,769 ( 0.4%) Rick Perry
29,102 ( 0.2%) Michele Bachmann
16,118 ( 0.1%) Buddy Roemer
13,629 ( 0.1%) Herman Cain
4,364 ( 0.0%) Gary Johnson
52,271 ( 0.4%) No Preference
44,686 ( 0.3%) Uncommitted
The total vote in all of the Republican presidential primaries and caucuses, including votes for obscure candidates not listed above, has been 14,286,105.
With 1,144 delegates needed to win the GOP nomination at the national convention in Tampa, August 27-30, the Green Papers "soft count," including delegates favorable to a candidate but not committed, is:
951 Romney
259 Santorum
143 Gingrich
114 Paul
30 Uncommitted
CNN’s count is slightly different:
925 Romney
281 Santorum
145 Gingrich
82 Paul
The next primaries are on Tuesday, May 15, with Nebraska (35 delegates) and Oregon (28 delegates).
After that, Kentucky (45 delegates) and Arkansas (36 delegates) will vote on Tuesday, May 22.
3. Real Clear Politics listed the results of the seven most recent national polls pitting Mitt Romney against Barack Obama, with the results inconclusive.
Obama led by 8 percentage points in the Associated Press/GfK poll, by 7 points in the Reuters/Ipos poll, and by 3 points in the IBD/CSM/TIPP poll.
Romney led by 5 points in the Rasmussen tracking poll, by 3 points in the Gallup tracking poll, and by 1 point in the Politico/GWU/Battleground poll.
The two candidates tied in the Democracy Corps poll.
The average of all seven polls shows Obama ahead by 1.3%, with Obama at 46.7% and Romney at 45.4%.
4. The Gallup Poll found that President Obama has a huge likeability edge over Mitt Romney.
When asked which of the two candidates is the most likeable, 60% said Obama, while only 31% said Romney.
Neither conservative nor liberal leaders want to admit that many people do not base their votes entirely on where the candidates stand on the issues. Rather, the personality of the candidates may play a major role in determining the outcome of elections.
It does appear that Obama, George W. Bush, Ronald Reagan, George H. W. Bush, and Jimmy Carter had more appealing personalities than their respective opponents in the 1976 through 2008 elections.
If this analysis is valid, it may be very difficult for Romney to overcome the significant advantage Obama has on likeability.
This week's What’s Happening with Seniors Benefits: A new proposal that could save Medicare from bankruptcy and give seniors more choices
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