Strength among evangelicals, suburbs boost McCain in Oklahoma

By JUSTIN JUOZAPAVICIUS - The Associated Press

Published: November 4, 2008

Strength among white evangelicals, suburban voters and folks who decided at least a week ago or more who they were voting for helped propel Republican John McCain to a victory in Oklahoma Tuesday, according to initial data from exit polls conducted for The Associated Press.

Nearly nine in 10 voters made up their minds about which candidate to vote for sometime last week or earlier than that. Of that group, nearly two-thirds favored the Arizona senator.

McCain also polled well among voters who identified themselves as white evangelicals or born-again Christians, taking a heavy majority of that group.

The suburbs also showed strong for McCain, who reaped about two-thirds of that vote.

For the bulk of the campaign, McCain and Democrat Barack Obama have battled for the political middle. In Oklahoma, roughly four in 10 voters described themselves as moderate, and each candidate appeared to have roughly split that category.

More than half of Oklahoma voters tagged the economy as the most important issue facing the country, dwarfing issues such as energy policy, the war in Iraq, terrorism and health care.

The state of the economy was also the top election issue across the country: Nationally, six in 10 said so, according to early data from exit polls.

Kristin Miller of Oklahoma City said her concern about having an experienced president prompted her to vote for McCain over Obama. "I trust him more to do a better job in office," Miller said.

She said she voted for Jim Inhofe for U.S. Senate, but had no particular reason.

About six in 10 voters in Oklahoma said they disapproved of the job that President Bush was doing. About two-thirds of those who held that view went for Obama.

Mark Brodersen of Oklahoma City said he voted for "President Obama" because he wants to move away from the policies of the Bush administration, especially on the economy.

"It's his positions more than anything," Brodersen said, referring to the Democratic candidate. "I think he's progressive."

His wife, Susan Brodersen, said she voted for McCain.

"More confidence. More of a sure thing," she said. "I think McCain will make changes. I think he understands that Americans are not happy with things."

The exit poll of 552 Oklahoma voters was conducted for AP by Edison Media Research and Mitofsky International in a random sample of 15 precincts statewide. Results were subject to sampling error of plus or minus 6 percentage points, higher for subgroups.

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Methodology details: http://surveys.ap.org/exitpolls/

Associated Press Writer Tim Talley in Oklahoma City contributed to this report.

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