Preliminary results from a national Associated Press exit poll of voters in Tuesday's elections showed that six in 10 voters picked the economy as the most important issue facing the US, overwhelming other problems named. Barack Obama did strongly with this group – nearly six in 10 of those naming the economy were backing the Democrat. None of four other issues on the list – energy, Iraq, terrorism and health care – was picked by more than one in 10. Further underlining voters' preoccupation with the economy, nine in 10 said it is in bad shape. Nearly six in 10 of this group were backing Obama, too. In addition, almost nine in 10 said they are worried about the economy's direction, and here, too, almost six in 10 were supporting Obama. NEW VOTERS About one in 10 voters said this was the first year they have voted – roughly the same proportion of new voters as in 2004. About seven in 10 of them were voting for Obama. Overall, six in 10 new voters were under age 30, one in five were black and another one in five were Hispanic _ all far greater than their share of the entire population. All of those groups were voting overwhelmingly for Obama. In addition, half were Democrats and a third were independents _ and both were heavily favoring Obama. New voters were making up about one in seven Obama supporters but only about one in 20 of Republican John McCain's. THE PALIN FACTOR A third of Republicans and about the same share of conservatives said McCain's choice of Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin as his running mate was an important factor in deciding who to vote for. Underscoring how well she has fired up the party's base, both of those groups leaned heavily toward McCain. But her choice had the opposite effect on other voters. About a quarter of independents said Palin's selection had an important impact on their decision, and just over half of them were supporting Obama. More than four in 10 moderates also said her choice was a factor _ and six in 10 of them were Obama voters. CANDIDATES' QUALITIES More than a third of voters said they most wanted a candidate who would bring change to Washington, and they were voting heavily for Obama. Nearly as many said they wanted someone who shares their values, and six in 10 preferred McCain. About one in five were looking most for experience, a group that heavily favored McCain. A smaller portion were seeking a candidate who cares about people like them, and they favored Obama. DEMOGRAPHICS Nearly six in 10 women were Obama voters, while men divided their votes about evenly. Just over half of whites were backing McCain, giving him a slender edge in a group that President George W. Bush carried by 17 percentage points in 2004. White women were about evenly divided between the two candidates, while just over half of white men were supporting McCain. One group Obama has had trouble with all year _ whites who have not finished college _ were leaning solidly toward McCain, almost approaching the 23-point margin by which Bush won them in 2004. Virtually all blacks were supporting Obama. But while Bush got about one in 10 black votes in 2004, McCain got almost none of their votes this year. About two-thirds of Hispanics were also behind Obama. That was significantly stronger than four years ago when four in 10 Hispanics backed Bush. More than two-thirds of people under age 30 were backing Obama, while those age 65 and up were tilting slightly toward McCain. According to the early results, blacks and people under age 30 _ two groups Obama heavily courted _ were comprising roughly the same portion of all voters as they did in 2004. PARTY MATTERS About four in 10 voters were Democrats while about a third were Republicans. Roughly nine in 10 Democrats were backing Obama, and about the same number of Republicans were supporting McCain. Independents were voting for Obama by a modest margin. Answering one question that has been lingering since Obama defeated Hillary Rodham Clinton in the Democratic primaries, Obama was doing strongly among Democrats who had supported the New York senator and former first lady in the primaries. About nine in 10 of them said they were voting for Obama. OTHER WORRIES Two-thirds of voters said they were worried about being able to afford the health care they need. Of this group, about six in 10 were supporting Obama. On an issue that had been one of McCain's strengths during the campaign, about seven in 10 voters said they worry that there will be another terrorist attack in the United States. Those voters, though, were about evenly divided between the two candidates. OTHER ISSUES Six in 10 voters said future appointments to the Supreme Court were an important factor in their vote. This group leaned slightly toward Obama. Two-thirds favor drilling for oil offshore in U.S. waters. Six in 10 of them were McCain backers. More than half oppose the $700 billion government plan to help failing financial companies. These voters were about equally split between McCain and Obama. - AP – The results were from exit polling by Edison Media Research and Mitofsky International for The Associated Press and television networks conducted in 300 precincts nationally. The preliminary data was based on 10,747 voters, including telephone polling of 2,407 people who voted early, and has a margin of sampling error of plus or minus 1 percentage point for the entire sample, smaller for subgroups. __
