Early Exit Poll Peek

Polls close at 8:00pm in Pennsylvania and here is a look at some of the early exit poll results among Pennsylvania Democratic voters. Most Keystone State voters made up their minds about who they were supporting before last week. Seventy seven percent said they made their choice before that, 23 percent did so within the past week. Click here for the updated exit poll data.

The economy was the issue that Democratic primary voters said mattered most to them today, as it has been in most every other state throughout the campaign. Fifty four percent chose the economy as the most important issue, compared to 28 percent who said the war in Iraq and 14 percent who said health care. Eighty nine percent said the U.S. is in a recession while 10 percent said it is not.

Change was the most important quality for voters in Pennsylvania today. Forty nine percent of voters said change was what they were most looking for in a candidate while 26 percent said experience was what mattered to them. Fourteen percent said they were looking for a candidate who cared about them and just 8 percent said they most wanted a candidate who could win in the fall.

After being deluged with campaign ads for weeks, more than half said those ads were an important factor in their decision. Fifty four percent said the ads were important while 43 percent said they were not.

More than half of the supporters of both candidates say they would not be satisfied if the other candidate ends up as the Democratic nomination. Sixty four percent of Clinton voters said they would not be satisfied with Obama as the nominee while 35 percent said they would. Fifty four percent of Obama voters also said they would not be satisfied with Clinton, 44 percent said they would be. Overall however, 70 percent of all Democratic primary voters said they would be satisfied with Clinton as the nominee while 64 percent said they would be satisfied with Obama.

When it comes to the general election, Clinton fared slightly better against John McCain among Democratic primary voters today. Clinton led McCain 80 percent to 11 percent while Obama bested the presumptive GOP nominee 72 percent to 15 percent. But 26 percent of Clinton supporters say they will support McCain in the fall election if Obama is the nominee while 17 percent of his supporters said they would vote for McCain if Clinton wins the nomination.