• Majority of voters see America on wrong track

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    By Tom Curry

    As voters left polling places Tuesday, a majority told exit poll interviewers they felt the country was “seriously off on the wrong track.” But the mood of the electorate was markedly more optimistic than it was four years ago, when a record three out of four voters said the country was on the wrong track.

    In preliminary results from early voters in the national NBC News exit poll, 52 percent said America was on the wrong track while 46 percent said the nation was"generally going in the right direction."

     

    Preliminary results from exit polls also showed that most voters, 53 percent, thought the federal government is doing too much, a sharp contrast with four years ago, when the country was in the midst of a financial and economic crisis. At that time only 43 percent of voters said the government was doing too much and a majority, 51 percent, thought the government ought to do more to try to solve the nation’s problems.

    Not surprisingly three out of five voters Tuesday said the economy was the most important issue facing the country, but poll respondents were divided as to what specific economic challenge loomed largest.

    When asked, “Which one of these four is the biggest economic problem facing people like you?” 39 percent chose unemployment, nearly that many (36 percent) said rising prices, while 14 percent said taxes were the biggest problem and 7 percent said housing.

    Voters in preliminary exit poll results were sharply divided in their views of the president’s signature first-term accomplishment, enactment of the Affordable Care Act, which aims to overhaul the nation’s health insurance system.

    Twenty-five percent favored total repeal of the 2010 law, while another 23 percent wanted to see some of it repealed. Nineteen percent favored leaving the law as it is, and another 25 percent want expansion of the law.

    Exit poll interviews will continue across the nation as voters cast their ballots Tuesday; some of the preliminary results may be modified later in the evening as more data becomes available.

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  • Romney struggles with conservative SC voters

    By NBC's Mark Murray

     

    In the Iowa caucuses, Mitt Romney struggled among very conservative GOP voters, Tea Party supporters, and evangelicals. And he ended up losing that race (though we didn't find out until this week).

    A week later, however, Romney overperformed with these three groups in New Hampshire, and he won that contest easily.

    And in South Carolina tonight? According to the exit polls, it looks more like Iowa than New Hampshire.

    Among voters who consider themselves to be "very conservative" -- who make up 36% of tonight's primary electorate -- Newt Gingrich leads Romney, 45%-20%.

    Among voters who are Tea Party supporters, Gingrich has a 17-point edge over Romney, 43%-26%.

    And among those who describe themselves as evangelical or born-again Christians -- who made up 65% of the GOP primary electorate -- Gingrich is ahead, 42%-22%.

    Besides ideology, the exit polls also make it clear that Gingrich benefited -- and Romney struggled -- from the final two debates this week.

    Among those who said they made up their minds in the "last few days," Gingrich leads 43%-23%. Yet among those who said they made up their minds earlier than that, Romney leads by two points, Romney leads 35%-32%.

    And among those who said the debates were the "single most important factor" or "one of several important factors," Gingrich leads by a wide margin.