Exit polls: Economy top issue
Posted: Tuesday, February 19, 2008 9:03 PM by Domenico Montanaro
From MSNBC's Norah O'Donnell and Adam Verdugo
Wisconsin has been a battleground where Hillary
Clinton and Barack
Obama have been trading barbs about who can create jobs and the numbers tonight indicate that the voters are listening. It's also an industrial state so what happens in Wisconsin may well be indicative of what might be ahead as we look to Ohio and Pennsylvania.
Democrats in the state are very concerned about the economy: 43% say it's the number one issue facing the nation. The war in Iraq was next at 29%, followed by healthcare at 25%. Regarding the economy, Nine out of ten Democratic voters in the state say the economy was in bad shape. This number is about 10 points higher than it was last year.
Related to feelings about the economy is the issue of trade. Seven out of 10 believe that international trade takes away more jobs compared to four years ago.
Another interesting note: Wisconsin's primary is an open primary, which means voters can walk into the voting booth and register on the spot. Also, when voters walk into the voting booth, they have a choice of candidates from both parties. One figure to watch tonight -- independents and how they break. More than one-in-four voters that cast their ballot today in the democratic primary consider themselves independent.
We're also seeing a good number of first time voters; 17% say this is their first primary election. That's about the same number we saw in New Hampshire. Although that figure is not the highest we've seen -- in Virginia it was more than a third of voters -- it's still notable.