IN, NC exit poll highlights

Highlights from exit polling Tuesday in the Indiana and North Carolina Democratic primaries for The Associated Press and television networks:

THE WRIGHT STUFF

Nearly half the voters in the Indiana and North Carolina Democratic primaries said the situation with Barack Obama's former pastor, the Rev. Jeremiah Wright, was important to their vote. Most of them voted for Clinton: about seven in 10 in Indiana and six in 10 in North Carolina.

In both states, those who said Wright was not a factor leaned clearly toward Obama. In North Carolina, Obama won more votes from people who said the issue wasn't important than Clinton did among those who said it was, while in Indiana the two groups were about equal in size.

In both states, whites were about equally divided between those saying Wright was an influential factor and those saying he was not.

Of those whites who said Wright affected their vote, about eight in 10 in each state favored Clinton. That compared to six in 10 white voters overall in each state who supported her.

WORRIED ABOUT THE ECONOMY

The economy continues to grow in importance in Democratic voters' minds as the primary season enters its final weeks. Two-thirds of Democratic primary voters in Indiana and 60 percent in North Carolina said the economy is the most important issue facing the nation. That's more than have said so in 28 previous competitive Democratic primaries with exit polls this year.

Only about one in five in each state said Iraq was the top issue, and even fewer picked health care from a list of three issues.

Four in 10 Indiana Democratic voters said the economic slowdown has affected their family a great deal. Nearly as many said that in North Carolina.

RACIAL DIVISIONS

A familiar demographic story unfolded in both states. Obama racked up some of his largest margins yet among blacks, winning nine in 10 of them, men and women. In Indiana, Clinton won about six in 10 whites, with no real difference between men and women. In North Carolina, she did a little worse among white men than white women though she still won both groups. The big difference between the states: Blacks were about a third of voters in North Carolina, only about one in five in Indiana.

As before, Clinton ran particularly well among less educated, lower-income whites than those of higher socio-economic status.

In both states, nearly one in seven whites said race was an important factor in their vote. Among them, six in 10 in North Carolina but eight in 10 in Indiana voted for Clinton.

CAN'T GET NO SATISFACTION

A solid majority of each Democratic hopeful's voters said they would not be satisfied if the other candidate wins the nomination. Nearly two-thirds of Clinton voters said they'd be dissatisfied with Obama, compared with 52 percent in 25 primaries where the question was asked previously. About six in 10 Obama voters said they would be dissatisfied with Clinton as the nominee, more than have said that in any state to date.

Just how dissatisfied? A third of Clinton backers claimed they would vote for Republican John McCain if he faces Obama in November. One in five Obama supporters said they would vote for McCain over Clinton.

CROSSOVER VOTING

Indiana's Democratic primary was open to all voters. About one in five said they were independents and they leaned slightly toward Obama, while the two about evenly divided Democrats and the one in 10 who identified themselves as Republican. North Carolina's Democratic primary was open only to voters registered Democratic or unaffiliated; nearly one in five voters in that contest called themselves independents, and they divided about evenly between the two rivals.

CANDIDATES' QUALITIES

Obama was viewed as the more honest candidate in both states, while Clinton was seen as having been less fair in her campaign attacks. In both states more said Obama shares their values than Clinton does. Voters in Indiana narrowly said Obama would be likelier than Clinton to defeat Republican John McCain in November, while North Carolinians widely picked Obama.

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Preliminary results from exit polling by Edison Media Research and Mitofsky International for The Associated Press and television networks. Exit polls were conducted in 35 precincts each in Indiana and North Carolina. A telephone poll of 400 absentee voters also was conducted over the past week in North Carolina, where absentees were estimated to make up about 30 percent of the electorate. In all, 1,881 voters were interviewed in Indiana, 2,316 in North Carolina, with a margin of sampling error for both states of plus or minus 3 percentage points.

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