Exit Poll Results Nationwide

WASHINGTON -- Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama drew even with Hillary Rodham Clinton among white males and led with black, young and higher-income voters, national exit polls showed Wednesday. White women rallied behind Clinton, who also got a boost from Hispanics, older people and those seeking an experienced candidate.

On the Republican side, Sen. John McCain bested Mitt Romney among people calling themselves regular Republicans and won broad backing, including from moderates and people valuing experience and leadership, according to exit polls of voters in 16 states. Romney's strongest advantages were with the GOP's most conservative voters, people seeking a strong stance against illegal immigrants, those satisfied with the status of the economy and strong proponents of the war in Iraq.

Obama and Clinton were each getting support from almost half of white men, marking a big improvement for the Illinois senator with a group whose support had mostly eluded him this year. Former Sen. John Edwards' decision to leave the Democratic race last week may have helped Obama with white males, who made up more than a quarter of Tuesday's Democratic voters from coast to coast, exit polls showed.

More than four in 10 women and about the same number of whites also were supporting Obama. That represented a gain for him from most previous Democratic nominating contests this year, though he still trailed Clinton by more than 10 percentage points in both categories, a significant gap in a two-person race.

"I think Obama can bring a more radical change," said Linda Ster, 44, a social worker in Nashville, Tenn. "I have voted for a Clinton already. I want something different _ way different _ this time."

The bulk of Obama's white support was coming from those under age 40 _ especially those younger than 30 _ a group he dominated in Tuesday's voting.

Countering that, Clinton had the support of almost six in 10 white women, giving her a muscular 24 percentage point edge with them. White women comprised more than one-third of Democratic voters in Tuesday's contests.

Obama got the backing of eight in 10 blacks, about his usual margin. But Clinton, a New York senator, countered with strong support from Hispanics, nearly two-thirds of whom supported her. Much of that strength came from Hispanic women and from the oldest Latino voters.

Clinton also was favored by older voters overall, with those over 65 giving her most of their votes, and had a clear lead with lower educated and low-income people. Obama won his party's most liberal voters while Clinton had a slight advantage with remaining Democrats.

About half of Democrats across the country said they want a candidate who will change things. As usual, Obama was that group's overwhelming favorite, getting about two-thirds of their votes. About one-fourth preferred experience, and Clinton garnered virtually all their votes.

Half of Democrats named the economy as the country's top issue, and that group gave Clinton a modest edge. She also led with those citing health care as the top issue, while Obama had an advantage with people most concerned about the war in Iraq.

Underscoring the state-by-state differences in Tuesday's races, Clinton and Obama were about even among California's whites, while she had near 20 percentage point leads among whites in more conservative Georgia and Missouri. Obama trailed slightly among men in Tennessee but led by a wide margin with them in Delaware.