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Voters Said ...

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The Tampa Tribune

Published: January 4, 2008

Preliminary results of a survey conducted for The Associated Press among voters arriving at the Iowa caucuses Thursday night:

Candidates

About half of Democrats said their candidate's ability to bring about needed change was the most important factor in making their decision, and Barack Obama won the support of half of this group. Only about a fifth cited experience, a group Hillary Rodham Clinton Clinton won easily. Another fifth said the main factor was a candidate who cared about people like them, which John Edwards won. Only about one in 10 said they cared most about finding a contender with the best chance of capturing the White House.

Among Republicans, about four in 10 said the most important quality in a candidate was one who shared their values, and nearly half of them chose Mike Huckabee. Somewhat fewer said they wanted a candidate who says what he believes, a group that also favored Huckabee, and fewer still were looking for experience and a chance to win in November.

Issues

Given three choices, just over a third of Democrats said Iraq is the chief issue facing the country, with about the same number naming the economy. Health care was close behind. Obama had the most support among those naming Iraq and the economy, and the three candidates were close among those citing health care.

Demographics

•Clinton and Obama were running about even among women - a source of strength for Clinton in national polls. More than half of voters younger than 30 were supporting Obama, and he had a roughly 2-to-1 lead over her among those age 30 to 44. Clinton had a decisive lead among the oldest voters.

•As in past Iowa caucuses and other presidential nomination contests, the Democratic turnout was predominantly female, and a majority of Republicans were male.

Ideology

•Half of those at Democratic caucuses described themselves as liberal, compared with 56 percent in 2004 and 49 percent in 2000. Obama had a strong lead among those calling themselves very liberal and was about even with Clinton among moderates.

•Close to eight in 10 of those who showed up for the Republican caucuses called themselves conservative, compared with about three-quarters of voters in the past two contested GOP caucuses, in 1996 and 2000. Huckabee was performing strongly among those calling themselves very conservative, garnering more than a third of their support -well ahead of Mitt Romney.

Surveys conducted for AP and the television networks by Edison Media Research and Mitofsky International at 40 sites each for Democratic and Republican caucuses in Iowa. Preliminary results included interviews with rivals. The Democratic entrance poll inc

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