Franken had trouble winning independents

• Al Franken

File Photo: Al Franken thinks hard Tuesday while answering a quiz question at the University of Minnesota booth at FarmFest. He later debated U.S. Sen. Norm Coleman, whom he hopes to replace. (Don Davis/Minn. State Capitol Bureau)

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• Comment on the 2008 elections.

An analysis of exit poll data from Tuesday's election shows DFL candidate Al Franken wasn't able to win over independent voters at the same rate as fellow Democrat Barack Obama, providing a clue as to why Obama won handily and the Senate race was close enough to require a recount.

INDEPENDENTS LIKED OBAMA ...

About a quarter of the voters on Election Day called themselves politically independent. Well over half of them went for Obama.

... BUT WERE LESS HOT FOR FRANKEN

Franken got about 75 percent of all the voters who went for Obama, but the share dropped when looking just at Obama's independent voters.

Among them, only about 60 percent went for the Democrat, about a quarter went for the Independence Party's Dean Barkley and 15 percent for Republican Sen. Norm Coleman.

WHO THEY ARE:

— A majority of independent voters were were 45 years or older.

— Two-thirds earned $50,000 or more

— Eight in 10 went to high school or beyond.

— Two-thirds described themselves as moderate.

— More than 90 percent had voted before.

— Nearly three-quarters thought both Franken and Coleman attacked each other unfairly.