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What Tuesday's Electorate PROBABLY Will Look Like

Two of the biggest questions heading into Election Day are: “What will the electorate look like?” And: “How will these voters break?” Here's a pretty good indicator.
A woman walks past voting booths at the Cuyahoga County Board of Elections in Cleveland, Tuesday, Oct. 7, 2014. Early voting began in Ohio after the U.S. Supreme Court stepped into a dispute over the schedule, pushing the start date back a week in the swing state. (AP Photo/Mark Duncan)
A woman walks past voting booths at the Cuyahoga County Board of Elections in Cleveland, Tuesday, Oct. 7, 2014. Early voting began in Ohio after the U.S. Supreme Court stepped into a dispute over the schedule, pushing the start date back a week in the swing state. (AP Photo/Mark Duncan)Mark Duncan / AP

Two of the biggest questions heading into Election Day are: “What will the electorate look like?” And: “How will these voters break?” Well, our weekly NBC/WSJ/Annenberg polls have collected merged data from interviews with 6,346 likely voters from Sept. 2 through Oct. 29, and here’s a pretty good clue from this 6,000-plus sample:

  • Overall congressional preference: GOP 49%, Dem 44%
  • Men: GOP 54%-40%
  • Women: Dem 49%-43%
  • Whites: GOP 56%-37%
  • African American: Dem 88%-7%
  • Latinos: Dem 57%-37%
  • 18-29: Dem 51%-42%
  • 30-44: Dem 50%-43%
  • 45-64: GOP 50%-43%
  • 65+: GOP 53%-40%

What is striking about these numbers is how similar they are to the 2010 exit poll, so make of that what you will. Also, these 6,000-plus interviews are a reminder to the political community to never make TOO MUCH of one single poll -- like a survey saying that Republicans are slightly leading among a small sample of “definite” young voters. The other polls and aggregates don’t back that up.

Here's a look at the data: