Network exit poll results for Tuesday's Wisconsin Democratic primary point to a gender gap for Sen. Hillary Clinton of New York, who thus far has had better luck winning support from female Democratic primary voters than from males.
In Wisconsin, according to the poll, Clinton battled Sen. Barack Obama of Illinois to a dead heat among female voters, but lost to him among male voters by more than 2 to 1.
Among female voters, Clinton and Obama were tied with 50 percent each, the poll said. But among the male voters, Obama defeated Clinton 67-31 percent.
Clinton's strongest support came from the elderly. Among those 65 or over, she defeated Obama 58 percent to 41 percent. Obama defeated her in every other age group, however, gaining strength in the poll as voters grew younger. He defeated her 73 percent to 26 percent among voters 18-24 years of age.
The network exit polls have indicated that Clinton has had difficulty winning male Democratic primary voters, even in some major states that have voted Democratic in recent presidential elections and where she won the overall vote in this primary season. Obama has not had an equivalent problem winning female votes in the states he has carried.
On Super Tuesday, for example, according to the exit polls, Obama won the female vote in every primary he won except in Connecticut, where he won 51 percent to 47 percent overall, but lost 45 percent to 53 percent among females.
In Arizona, California, Massachusetts, New Jersey and New Mexico, by contrast, Clinton won the primary but lost the male vote to Obama.
In her home state of New York, where she handily won the primary, 57 percent to 40 percent, she nonetheless managed to pull only 50 percent of the male vote. In Obama's home state of Illinois, which Obama won 65 percent to 33 percent, Obama pulled 64 percent of the female Democratic vote.
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