Economy Leads Concerns In Historic Election

Barack Obama could become the first black president, or Sarah Palin could become the first female vice president, but the economy is by far the top matter on voters' minds as Election Day at last arrives.

An Associated Press exit poll finds six in 10 voters across the country picked the economy as the most important issue facing the nation. None of four other issues on the list - energy, Iraq, terrorism and health care -- was picked by more than one in 10.

Not surprisingly, voters have a very sour view of the condition of the nation's economy. About half said the economy is in poor condition and nearly as many said the economy is not good. The results are based on a preliminary partial sample of nearly 10,000 voters in Election Day exit polls and telephone interviews over the past week for early voters.

At least four in 10 said their family's financial situation has gotten worse in the past four years. A third said it's about the same and about a quarter said it's gotten better.

Half of voters said they're very worried the current economic crisis will harm their family's finances over the next year and another third were somewhat worried about that. But nearly half said they think the U.S. will get better over the next year.

Two-thirds of voters said they're worried about being able to afford the health care they need. And at least as many said they worried there will be another terrorist attack in the United States.

Of those who said the Iraq war was their top issue, 63 percent reported voting for Sen. Barack Obama, according to CNN's breakdown of the exit poll results. Of those who said terrorism was the No. 1 concern, 86 percent said they voted for McCain, CNN reported.

Candidates Take Final Shots

Obama awaited the results at home in Chicago after a marathon campaign across 21 months and 49 states. At 47, with only four years in the Senate, he sought election as one of the youngest presidents, and one of the least experienced in national political affairs.

That wasn't what set the Illinois senator apart, though - neither from his rivals nor from the 43 men who have served as president since the nation's founding more than two centuries ago. A black man, he confronted a previously unbreakable barrier as he campaigned on twin themes of change and hope in uncertain times.

McCain, a prisoner of war during Vietnam, a generation older than his rival at 72, waited in Arizona to learn the outcome of the election. It was his second try for the White House, following his defeat in the battle for the GOP nomination in 2000.

A conservative, he ran seeking to stress his maverick's streak. And a Republican, he did what he could to separate himself from an unpopular President Bush.

For the most part, the two presidential candidates and their running mates, Republican Gov. Sarah Palin of Alaska and Democratic Sen. Joe Biden of Delaware, spent weeks campaigning in states that went for Bush four years ago. Virginia, Florida, North Carolina, Ohio, Iowa, Colorado, New Mexico and Nevada drew most of their time. Pennsylvania also drew attention as McCain sought to invade traditionally Democratic turf.

McCain and Obama each won contested nominations - the Democrat outdistancing former first lady Hillary Rodham Clinton - and promptly set out to claim the mantle of change.

"I am not George W. Bush," McCain said in one debate.

Obama retorted that he might as well be, telling audiences in state after state that the Republican had voted with the president 90 percent of the time across eight years of the Bush administration.

After voting with her husband, the former president, Clinton called Bush "the lamest of lame ducks" and predicted that Obama would begin making presidential appointments and announcing economic policies within weeks.

Turnout Heavy

Exit polls showed that one in 10 voters were voting this year for the first time, and they were disproportionately young and nonwhite. Six in 10 of those voters were under age 30. One in five new voters were black and about as many were Hispanic. A quarter of new voters said they don't have landline phones at home, only cell phones.

As they have in pre-election polls, President George W. Bush and Congress get low marks from voters. Only about one in five approve of how Bush is handling his job, and Congress fared no better.

Walter

Associated Press