Early FL exit poll highlights

By The Associated Press Tue Jan 29, 5:09 PM ET

Some highlights of preliminary data from exit polls conducted for The Associated Press and television networks in the Florida presidential primary Tuesday:

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RISING IMPORTANCE FOR FALLING ECONOMY

Given four choices, nearly half of Florida Republican primary voters said the economy is the most important issue facing the country. Terrorism, Iraq and immigration each were picked by fewer than two in 10. The economy also was the top issue out of three choices for voters in the Democratic primary, which none of the candidates contested because of questions over whether Florida's Democratic delegates will be seated. The economy has been seen as increasingly important since the start of the 2008 presidential nomination season.

AND HOW'S THE ECONOMY DOING?

Republicans were more likely than Democrats to rate the national economy positively, though few in either party rated it excellent. A third of Republicans but fewer than one in 10 Democrats rated the economy good. Half of Democrats called it poor, compared to only about one in seven Republican primary voters.

THE GRAYING OF THE PRIMARIES

Both parties' electorates were older than in any other presidential contest this year. A third or more in each primary were at least 65 years old. In earlier Democratic contests no more than a quarter were senior citizens, and on the Republican side only the Nevada caucuses came anywhere close to Florida in the proportion of older voters.

MORE DEMOGRAPHIC TIDBITS ...

• Eight in 10 Republican primary voters were white and a little more than one in 10 were Hispanic — about half of whom were of Cuban heritage. There were few blacks on the GOP side. In the Democratic primary, two-thirds were white, about one in five were black and a little more than one in 10 were Hispanic.

• About one in seven voters in each party's primary described themselves as independents.

• About three in 10 Republican voters called themselves moderates. Slightly more Democrats identified themselves as moderate.

DECISIONS, DECISIONS

There were fewer late-deciding voters in both parties in Florida than in most earlier contests.

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From partial samples of 970 Republican primary voters and 989 Democratic primary voters conducted by Edison Media Research and Mitofsky International in 40 precincts across Florida on Tuesday. The samples include 235 Republican voters and 294 Democratic voters who voted early or absentee and were surveyed in the past week by telephone. Margin of sampling error plus or minus 4 percentage points for each primary.