WREX.com – Rockford’s News LeaderBarack Obama Wins Illinois

Barack Obama Wins Illinois

CHICAGO (AP) -- Barack Obama wins Illinois' 21 electoral votes.

Barack Obama easily bested Arizona Sen. John McCain among women in Illinois but split the vote with the Republican among men.

That's according to exit polls conducted for The Associated Press and television networks.

Obama took most of the black vote but the race was closer among whites. And the Illinois Democrat beat the GOP nominee among voters under 45 but the tally was closer with older voters.

Obama won over most voters making less than $100,000 and held his own with McCain among more affluent voters.

The Democrat won a majority of votes of those describing the state of the national economy as "poor," but the race was close among voters describing it as "not good."

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

--Illinois Sen. Barack Obama won handily among blacks and split the white vote with Arizona Sen. John McCain. Democrat Obama led McCain among white women but ran even with the Republican nominee among white men.

--Three-quarters of voters indicated race was "not a factor" in choosing a president, with Obama, the nation's first major-party black nominee, winning those votes easily. The vote was closer among those who considered race a factor.

--Obama won easily among younger voters -- those under 45 -- while the vote was closer among those 45 and older.

--Obama took most of the votes of people earning less than $100,000 and held his own with those making more than that, many of whom Obama says should pay higher taxes.

--Obama led among voters who say the country is "seriously off on the wrong track," and who say they're worried about the economy or disapprove of President Bush's job performance. But the vote was much closer among voters expressing fears about another terrorist attack in the U.S. and voters who disapprove of the job Congress is doing.

-- Moderates, about half the electorate, were a key, giving Obama strong support while liberals went heavily for the home-state candidate and conservatives backed McCain. In the race for U.S. Senate, incumbent Democrat Dick Durbin similarly led Republican Steve Sauerberg among liberals and moderates but trailed in the conservative vote.

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The exit poll of 1,389 Illinois voters was conducted for AP by Edison Media Research and Mitofsky International in a random sample of 25 precincts statewide. Results were subject to sampling error of plus or minus 4 percentage points, higher for subgroups.

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Methodology details: http://surveys.ap.org/exitpolls

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