Election Reveals a Nation Divided

N E W   Y O R K, Nov. 10 -- Either George W. Bush or Al Gore will lead a profoundly divided nation.

Should Bush’s slender lead in Florida stand up to the ongoing recount and any legal challenges, he will become the first president since 1888 to win a majority of Electoral College votes while losing the popular vote.

Should Gore win, he will have become president by a razor-thin margin and will face a Congress controlled — if barely — by the opposing party.

“It’s certainly not going to be harmonious,” says Larry Makinson, director of the Center for Responsive Politics in Washington, looking ahead to a period of fractious oppositional politics.

Race, Gender and Class Divisions

Neither candidate will have anything approaching a popular mandate. Interviews Tuesday of voters as they left polling places revealed a country filled with jagged political, social, racial and even geographic rifts.

Although both candidates are generally considered to be moderates, the exit poll data show a litany of contrasts among supporters of Gore and backers of Bush, with traditional Democratic and Republican splits remaining intact or even widening.

African-Americans, a traditionally Democratic group, favored Gore over Bush by 90 percent to 8 percent, despite a conspicuous attempt by the Republicans to give speaking roles to African-Americans at the party’s convention this summer.

And the so-called gender gap was more prominent than ever this year. Exit polls showed Bush winning among men, 53 percent to 42 percent, while Gore had a clear edge among women, 54 percent to 43 percent.

It is the first time since exit polling began in 1980 that a clear majority of men and women favored different candidates. Overall, the gender gap moved from 17 points in 1996, when President Clinton beat former Sen. Bob Dole, to 22 points this year.

And there is a clear correlation between income levels and political preference as well. Gore had the edge among all voters in families with incomes of $50,000 or under, while Bush maintained the traditional Republican advantage among wealthier voters.