Battleground State Profile: Nevada

State Data:

2008 Primary Results:

Hillary Clinton: 51%

Barack Obama: 45%

John Edwards: 4%

Mit Romney: 51%

Ron Paul: 14%

John McCain: 13%

2004 Election Results:

George W. Bush: 50.47%

John Kerry: 47.88%

2000 Election Results:

George W. Bush: 49.52%

Al Gore: 45.98%

Racial Breakdown:

White: 65.2%

Black: 6.8%

Hispanic: 19.7%

Other: 8.3%

Income:

Under 25k: 24.7%

25-50k: 31.2%

50-100k: 32.8%

Over 100k: 11.3%

Education:

Less than H.S.: 19.3%

H.S. or Higher: 80.7%

BA or Higher: 18.2%

Grad/Prof Deg: 6.1%

Nevada

Nevada has gone Republican in the last two presidential elections - President Bush beat John Kerry here by two points and Al Gore by four - as well as in eight of the last ten presidential elections. But Barack Obama feels he can win the state, thanks in part to an influx of outsiders - the state's population grew by more than 10 percent in three years, with many of the new residents coming from more liberal states. There has also been a significant influx of Hispanic residents, a group that tends to vote Democrat.

Obama may not be the best positioned Democrat to win the state, however - he has struggled to win over Latinos, as evidenced by his loss to Hillary Clinton in the state's Democratic caucuses where Hispanics preferred Clinton to Obama almost 2-to-1. McCain's relative moderation on immigration could help him compete for Latino votes.

Barack Obama feels he can win the state, thanks in part to an influx of outsiders - the state's population grew by more than 10 percent in three years.

One key issue in the state: The proposed nuclear waste dump at Yucca Mountain. McCain has suggested that the facility could be "unnecessary," though he favors it. Obama opposes the plan.

Ways To Win

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