DETROIT (AP) — Michigan voters decided Barack Obama was better suited than John McCain to get the stalled economy on the road to recovery, preliminary results from an exit poll showed.

The economy was uppermost in people's minds during Tuesday's election in a state battered by the auto industry's woes long before the economic slowdown hit the rest of the nation. Nearly two-thirds said it was the most important issue, far outpacing the war in Iraq, health care and other topics. About six in 10 of those voters went with Obama.

"I haven't worked in over a year. It is absolutely terrible," hairdresser Dennis Moffitt, 47, said after voting for the Democratic nominee in Eaton County's Windsor Township.

Obama also drew solid backing from women, blacks, labor union members, young voters and those voting for the first time, while outdueling Republican John McCain for swing voters who described themselves as moderate and independent. Republicans, conservatives and white evangelical Christians were McCain's biggest supporters.

About nine in 10 voters said they were worried about the direction of the nation's economy over the next year, while a similar majority described the economic situation as poor or "not so good." Obama won handily among those voters. Nearly eight in 10 of those satisfied with the economy backed McCain, but they were a tiny fraction of the electorate.

The numbers were much the same when voters were asked whether the job situation in their area was better or worse than four years ago.

Those on the lower end of the income ladder were more favorable toward Obama. He picked up the votes of six in 10 whose family income was below $50,000 a year, although Obama also won a slight majority of those earning over $50,000. That was a reversal from 2004, when George W. Bush carried the over-$50,000 group by a similar margin.

McCain even fell short of a majority with voters earning over $100,000, who were about evenly divided.

Maria Campanale, 50, a Birmingham mortgage banker, voted a straight Democratic ticket after twice supporting Bush. It wasn't easy, she said. But she was fearful for "all these people who are losing their homes."

"I think it's going to take a Democratic administration to fix that," she said.

McCain tried to sow doubts about Obama's economic plan by accusing him of wanting to redistribute wealth instead of create it. Some voters agreed — but too few to help the Arizona senator.

"I think Barack is more of a socialist," said Kristen Moran, 55, of Birmingham, owner of a Pontiac dealership.

Meanwhile, Obama apparently neutralized any lingering resentment women may have felt over his defeat of Hillary Clinton for the Democratic nomination. About six in 10 women supported him, including about nine in 10 Democratic women — white and black.

He won a narrow majority among men, who were evenly divided between Kerry and George W. Bush four years ago, and battled McCain to a draw among white men — a solid pro-Bush bloc in the previous election.

Blacks, already among the most reliably Democratic voters, overwhelmingly supported the first black nominee on a major party ticket. Obama captured the votes of well over nine in 10 blacks, a margin surpassing black support for Kerry, Al Gore and Bill Clinton.

Nearly eight in 10 voters said the candidates' race was not an important factor. But nearly two-thirds of those who felt differently voted for Obama.

The poll suggested Bush's unpopularity damaged McCain, despite his efforts to put distance between them. A majority of voters said McCain would mainly continue his predecessor's policies, while about four in 10 said he would take the country in a new direction. More than three-quarters disapproved of Bush's job performance.

About one in 10 voters were participating in their first election, and nearly eight in 10 backed Obama. He also won handily among voters ages 25 and younger and carried other age groups by smaller margins except voters 65 and older, who were about evenly divided.

The poll suggested McCain was on to something when he abandoned his Michigan campaign in early October. About six in 10 voters said they had made up their minds more than a month earlier, and a solid majority went with Obama.

The survey of 3,079 voters was conducted for AP by Edison Media Research and Mitofsky International. Most were interviewed in a random sample of 50 precincts statewide Tuesday; 504 who voted early or absentee were interviewed by landline telephone over the last week. Results for the full sample were subject to sampling error of plus or minus 3 percentage points, higher for subgroups.

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