Surprising exit polls: What pension tax? Snyder won the senior vote

With the help of Dennis Lennox, a columnist for our sister paper, The (Mount Pleasant) Morning Sun, here are some telling numbers from NBC's exit poll in Michigan, which looked at the details of the contest between Gov. Rick Snyder and Democrat Mark Schauer:
* Snyder won these age groups: 25-29, 40-49, 50-64 and 65+. Yes, you read that right. After all the speculation that the pension tax would be Snyder's undoing, he topped Schauer among seniors by 56-43%. That number is bound to give Lon Johnson heartburn.
* Here's another head-shaker: 17% of those who "strongly approve" of President Obama and 19% of those who "somewhat approve" of the president cast their ballot for Snyder.
* The governor did better with Democrats than Schauer did with Republicans -- 12% of Democratic men and 9% of Democratic women voted for Snyder as opposed to 5% of Republican men and 7% of Republican women voting for
Schauer.* 32% of those with negative views of congressional Republicans voted for Snyder.
* 29% of union households voted for the governor.
* Snyder dominated among the independent voters who comprised about a a third of the electorate: 61-34%* Snyder won high school graduates and college graduates; tied with post-graduates.
* The Democratic challenger got 16% of self-described conservatives (protest voters?); Snyder garnered 13% of the votes among liberals.
* Some 56% of Protestants and 59% of Catholics voted for Snyder.
* 24% with unfavorable view of the GOP voted for the incumbent; 15% of those with favorable view of Democrats voted Snyder.