National exit poll data: Economy top concern for US voters

Preliminary results from a national Associated Press exit poll of voters in Tuesday's elections:

THE ECONOMY DOMINATES — AND NOTHING ELSE COMES CLOSE

Overwhelming all other problems, six in 10 voters picked the economy as the most important issue facing the nation. Barack Obama was doing strongly with this group — six in 10 of those naming the economy were backing the Democrat. All the other issues listed in the survey — Iraq, energy, terrorism and health care — were picked by one in 10 or less.

Four in 10 said their family financial status was worse than four years ago — the highest number to report that in a presidential race since at least 1992. Nearly three quarters of this group were voting for Obama.

Overall, while less than four in 10 of John McCain's voters said they are very worried that the economy's problems will hurt their family finances over the next year; nearly six in 10 of Obama's said the same.

Further underlining voters' preoccupation with the economy, nine in 10 said it is in bad shape and about the same number said they are worried about the economy's direction. Nearly six in 10 of both those groups were backing Obama.

About half of whites and independents who say the economy is in bad shape voted for Obama. Underscoring the pull that the economy had on voters, Obama got the support of only one in seven whites and three in 10 independents who think the economy is doing well.

NEW VOTERS GO FOR OBAMA IN A BIG WAY

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 exceeding their share of the population overall. And all of those groups were voting overwhelmingly for Obama. In addition, half were Democrats, compared to the four in 10 new voters who were Democrats in 2004. These new Democrats were almost unanimously backing Obama. A third of this year's new voters were independents — and about two-thirds of them were favoring Obama. New voters were making up about one in seven Obama supporters but only about one in 20 of McCain's.

BUSH'S SHADOW

As much as President Bush tried to stay out of this year's presidential race, his gravitational pull was huge.

Voters were split about evenly over whether McCain would follow Bush's policies. Those who said McCain would follow Bush gave nine in 10 of their votes to Obama. Nearly nine in 10 of those saying McCain would carve his own path voted for the Arizona Republican.

A look inside those numbers shows the damage plainly. Nearly half of independents said McCain would continue Bush policies, and about nine in 10 of them voted for Obama. Even one in seven Republicans thought McCain would follow Bush. Of them, more than four in 10 voted for Obama.

Overall, nearly one in five who said they voted for Bush in 2004 said they were backing Obama.

THE PALIN FACTOR

Sarah Palin, the Republican vice presidential candidate, was a big factor in the voting — in both directions.

A third of Republicans and about the same share of conservatives said McCain's choice of the Alaska governor as his running mate was an important factor in deciding who they'd support. Underscoring how well she 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 nearly six in 10 of them were supporting Obama. Nearly half of moderates also said her choice was a factor — and six in 10 of them were Obama voters.

Overall, just four in 10 said Palin was qualified to become president if necessary, while two-thirds said the same about her Democratic counterpart, Joe Biden. Three in 10 independents said Palin was not qualified, and three quarters of this group voted for Obama. About one in 10 Republicans said Palin was not qualified, and about a third of them voted for Obama.

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