A scary economy isn't the only fear voters carried to the polls on Tuesday. Two-thirds fret about how to pay for health care and at least as many worry that terrorists will attack the US again.
Still, the economy weighed heaviest on their minds. Six in 10 voters picked it as the most important issue facing the nation, according to preliminary polling. None of the four other issues listed by exit pollsters — energy, Iraq, terrorism and health care — was picked by more than one in 10 people.
Almost everyone agreed the economy's condition is either "poor" or "not good." And more than eight in 10 said they were worried about the economy's direction over the next year.
Half of voters said they're very worried the current economic crisis will harm their families, and another third were somewhat worried about that. One reason: about two-thirds of voters have stock market investments, such as retirement funds.
Yet there was room for optimism — nearly half predict the economy will get better over the next year.
In a historic year, when Democrat Barack Obama is the first black major-party candidate for president, nine out of 10 voters said the race of the candidates wasn't important to their votes. Almost as many said age wasn't important, a nod to 72-year-old Republican John McCain.
Obama has courted new voters, and there were plenty who turned out. One in 10 voters said they were voting for the first time, and they were disproportionately young and nonwhite, groups that have tended to favor Obama. Six in 10 first-time voters were under age 30. One in five new voters were black and about as many were Hispanic.
"All my buddies told me to vote for Obama," said Andrew Greenaway, 18, a Cleveland State University student who said he didn't follow the campaigns but was swayed by all "the buzz" in his dorm.
About a third of voters said the quality that mattered most was the candidates' ability to bring about change — the mantra of Obama's campaign — while a fifth focused on the candidates' experience, McCain's strong point.
"I don't think Obama knows what he's doing," said Craig Burnett, 55, a Republican in Hagerstown, Md. "He's too young and inexperienced."
More than half strongly disapproved of the way President Bush has handled the job.
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 per centage point for the entire sample, smaller for subgroups.