Myth of Young, Small Donors for The Elect

The Fox News/Opinion Data exit polling showed that the vote cast by people under 30 held steady at 11% percent, the same level the organization's 2004 exit polls had found. Edison Media Research/Mitofsky International found a higher proportion of the vote cast by 18-29 year olds--18%--but, by the same methodology, the firm found the 2004 voter base was 17 percent composed of people in that age cohort. The fact is that neither polling firm found any real increase from the levels they found four years ago.

The myth of the small donor is even more instructive. Fred Lucas, CNSNews.com, reports that the Campaign Finance Institute (CFI) found that only 26% of the donors to Obama's campaign gave $200 or less, compared to 25% for Bush's campaign in 2004. Most of the money raised came from the fat cats. CFI found that he got 80% more money from large donors (over $1,000) than from those who gave less than $200.