The Republicans' divide was ideological -- and familiar. It was the same division between moderates, most of whom favor McCain, and conservatives, most of whom don't, that marked the results in earlier primaries from New Hampshire to South Carolina.
Across the nation, McCain led among Republicans who identified themselves as moderates or liberals, but Romney led among the larger group who called themselves conservatives, according to exit poll results published by the Associated Press.
In California, McCain won only a third of the vote among conservatives, who made up most of the Republican electorate; Romney won a plurality of conservatives' votes. That result was repeated in most other states; even in Arizona, where McCain won overall, he lost among conservatives.
That suggested that the Arizona senator has not yet won over substantial numbers of his party's most loyal supporters, despite weeks of effort on his part to show that he is as conservative as his rivals.
"McCain wanted to use Super Tuesday to silence his critics and become the consensus nominee, but he fell a little short," said Neil Newhouse, a Republican pollster. "McCain moved the ball forward, but he didn't score a touchdown. It's not a bad showing, but it's not especially strong."
Romney won primaries or caucuses in six states on Tuesday; Huckabee won four.
As a result, Newhouse said, there is no reason for Romney or Huckabee to get out of the race at this point. "They can't look at these results and say, 'I've had enough, I'm throwing in the towel,' " he said.
McCain's poor showing among conservatives "is a formidable number to overcome," agreed veteran GOP strategist Eddie Mahe. "If Romney comes close in California, I think the conservatives will push to keep him in. They do not want McCain to be the presumptive nominee. . . . The animosity toward McCain [among conservatives] is very broad and very deep."
Indeed, even before the polls closed, several conservative spokesmen renewed their criticism of McCain.
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doyle.mcmanus@latimes.com
peter.wallsten@latimes.com
Times staff writers Sarah Wire and Ben DuBose contributed to this report.
