Chris Christie Absolutely Crushed It With Voters Who Don't Normally Pick Republicans

How did he do it? By sweeping up votes that Republicans don't normally pick up.

The composition of the New Jersey electorate looks just about the same as 2009, when he beat Democrat Jon Corzine by just 4 points.

Here's a look at the political and racial breakdown, according to early exit polls from The New York Times:

Party ID
2009: 41% Democrat, 31% Republican, 28% independent
2013: 42% Democrat, 27% Republican, 31% independent

Racial composition
2009: 73% white, 14% black, 9% Latino, 2% Asian
2013: 72% white, 15% black, 9% Latino, 3% Asian

If the electorate didn't change, that means Christie's share with all of these demographics did.

He won 55% of women (+10 from 2009), 20% of the black vote (+10), and 48% of the Hispanic vote (+11), according to the exit polling. He won among all age groups except 18-to-29-year-olds, which he lost by only 6 points. He also captured 31% of the Democratic vote (+an astounding 23 points from 2009) and 64% of the independent or unaffiliated (+4).