WASHINGTON (AP) -
Barack Obama garnered broad support from nearly all types of Wisconsin voters Tuesday and showed strong signs of eroding Hillary Rodham Clinton's usual coalition, including white women and working-class whites, according to exit polls.
Sen. Obama, D-Ill., had a modest lead among whites and was splitting the women's vote with his rival. He also was tightening his strong grip on male and younger voters, according to preliminary data from surveys of voters leaving polling places across the state.
Obama also was performing strongly with young whites, middle-aged people and moderates while expanding his decisive leads with independents, college-educated, high income and very liberal voters.
Clinton's strengths were coming from less-educated and older voters, two of her mainstays this year. Just over half of those with no more than a high school diploma were supporting the New York senator, as were six in 10 of those over age 65.
That was about her average margin among both groups in the 21 competitive Democratic primaries so far this year.
Obama and Clinton were splitting the votes of those earning less than $50,000 a year - significantly, including whites. In previous primaries, she led him among whites making that amount of money by 23 percentage points, and had a narrow lead among people of all races earning that amount.
Clinton's muscle also has come in part from a 22 percentage point lead she has held over Obama among white women in earlier primaries. Tuesday, they were running even.
About nine in 10 Wisconsin Democratic voters were white. There was not enough early data for any meaningful information on how blacks were voting, but in the past eight in 10, or more, have backed Obama.
Six in 10 men were supporting Obama, including the same proportion of white men. That is a group Obama has done increasingly well with, especially since former North Carolina Sen. John Edwards left the race two weeks ago.
Obama has dominated young voters all year, leading Clinton by nearly 20 points in the primaries and typically drawing huge crowds on college campuses. In early exit poll returns, Obama was getting a larger than usual three-fourths of the votes of those under age 30, including nearly the same numbers of whites that age.
He also was drawing backing from two-thirds of all those age 30-44.
Almost six in 10 liberals and nearly as many moderates were supporting Obama, another indication he is gaining among groups that usually tilt Clinton's way. In previous contests, he has done strongly among the most liberal voters, and he was doing so again Tuesday. But he has had only a slight advantage with all liberals while the two have evenly divided moderates.
Obama led among voters who said race and gender were not important factors in choosing a candidate, while Clinton had leads with those who considered them significant.
In a response that might resonate as the campaign moves next to economically ailing Ohio, seven in 10 said U.S. trade takes more jobs from Wisconsin than it creates. Obama led with those voters. The economy was seen by Ohio Democrats as the country's top problem, and Obama led with that group, too.
While eight in 10 Democrats said they would be satisfied if Obama were the nominee, seven in 10 said the same about Clinton.
Underscoring how the Democratic race was creating more interest than the all-but-decided Republican contest, Wisconsin's independents - free to vote in either primary - were opting for the Democratic contest by more than 2-to-1.
On the Republican side, the preliminary figures showed Arizona Sen. John McCain making some gains with his party's pivotal conservative voters, but still having some fences to mend.
Huckabee, as usual, was doing strongly with white, born-again and evangelical Christians, winning six in 10 of their votes. But they comprised only a quarter of voters in the GOP contest.
McCain was winning six in 10 votes of all other voters. That included getting just over half the votes of people calling themselves loyal Republicans. Among independents - his usual strength - he was attracting slightly more than four in 10 votes, compared to one-third for Huckabee and one in 10 for Texas Rep. Ron Paul.
McCain and Huckabee were evenly dividing conservatives, a group McCain has struggled all year to win, but it was a better showing for him than usual. He had a near 3-to-1 lead among moderates, a group that has strongly backed him.
The figures came from partial samples of an exit poll conducted by Edison Media Research and Mitofsky International in 35 precincts in Wisconsin for The Associated Press and television networks.
Those interviewed included 878 Democrats and 454 Republicans. The margin of sampling error was plus or minus 5 percentage points for Democrats and plus or minus 7 percentage points for Republicans.
AP Polling Director Mike Mokrzycki contributed to this report.
Wis. Exit Poll: Obama With Broad Backing - AOL News