Votes and other demographic information from 276 wards in the 2008 Democratic Party presidential primary.
data(newhamp)A data frame with 276 observations on the following 12 variables.
votesysThe voting system used where H is counted by hand and D is counted by machine.
ObamaThe number of votes for Barack Obama.
ClintonThe number of votes for Hillary Clinton.
demThe total number of votes cast in the Democratic primary (there were other candidates besides Clinton and Obama).
povrateThe poverty rate as a proportion as determined by the 2000 census.
pciPer capita annual income in USD in 1999.
DeanThe proportion of voters for Howard Dean in the 2004 Democratic primary.
KerryThe proportion of voters for John Kerry in the 2004 Democratic primary.
whiteThe proportion of non-Hispanic whites according to the 2000 census.
absenteeThe proportion voting by absentee ballot.
populationAn estimate of the population from 2002.
pObamaProportion voting for Obama
On the 8th January 2008, primaries to select US presidential candidates were held in New Hampshire. In the Democratic party primary, Hillary Clinton defeated Barack Obama contrary to the expectations pre-election opinion polls. Essentially two different voting technologies were used in New Hampshire. Some wards used paper ballots, counted by hand while others used optically scanned ballots, counted by machine. Among the paper ballots, Obama had more votes than Clinton while Clinton defeated Obama on just the machine counted ballots. Since the method of voting should make no causal difference to the outcome, suspicions have been raised regarding the integrity of the election.