'Morality' a top issue in US election win

President George W. Bush built his election win on a coalition of older, white, churchgoers in a race where voters were more likely to cite "morality" as their top concern rather than war or terror, analysis of the vote showed.

Pollsters had focused on terrorism, Iraq and the economy as key issues in the run-up to Tuesday's election and those were, of course, big factors in Mr Bush's three million-vote margin.

But "moral values" was the single top issue cited by voters, and social and religious issues such as gay marriage, gun ownership and abortion loomed large, according to exit polls by television networks posted on websites on Wednesday.

Mr Bush voters said they valued his clarity, leadership and religious faith - while John Kerry scored much higher with those who placed a premium on intelligence, compassion and being an agent of change.

CNN's analysis of the exit data showed that morality was cited as the number one concern by 22 per cent of voters - four-fifths of whom voted for Mr Bush. The second top issue was economy and jobs - and Mr Kerry captured four-fifths of those votes.

Terrorism was the third top issue, at 19 per cent. Iraq was fourth at 15 per cent - and 73 per cent of those voters went for Mr Kerry.

Other domestic issues - health care, taxes and education - were all under 10 per cent, with Democrats caring more about health and schools and Republicans about taxes. Other networks had very similar analysis of the exit poll data on their websites.

"Despite the conventional political wisdom that moral concerns are a drag on a political ticket, it was values that energised voters," James Kennedy, president of the Florida-based Coral Ridge Ministries said in a statement. Mr Kennedy said Christian conservatives had voted in unexpectedly large numbers and had delivered a "moral mandate".

Of the 11 states with anti-gay marriage initiatives on the ballot, Mr Bush carried nine. Three of those states had either open or very competitive Senate races and Republicans captured all three - Georgia, Oklahoma and Kentucky.

Voters who opposed gay marriage overwhelmingly backed Mr Bush, while the minority of Americans who backed full marriage rights for gay couples backed Mr Kerry. For the growing slice of voters, 35 per cent, who voiced support for civil unions for gay couples, it was a narrower 52 to 47 per cent for Mr Bush.

Predictably, people who oppose abortion rights tended to vote for Mr Bush, as did those with a gun in their homes. The National Rifle Association had campaigned hard for pro-gun candidates.

As expected, people who live in big cities went for Mr Kerry and those in smaller communities and rural areas for Mr Bush. Married people with children went for Mr Bush but working moms liked Mr Kerry.

Union members were Democratic, veterans supported Mr Bush - despite the questions about Mr Bush's National Guard duty and the still-bitter debate over Mr Kerry's service in Vietnam.

People who thought the economy was basically in good shape voted for Mr Bush, as did affluent voters. People who thought Iraq was a mess went for Mr Kerry.

First-time voters and those 18 to 29 backed Mr Kerry, as did those who made up their minds in the last few days, in keeping with conventional wisdom that undecideds usually break for the challenger.

Voters over age 60 tended to go for Mr Bush, although he may not have got as much mileage out of Medicare reform as he had hoped.

Religion was a bellwether. Weekly churchgoers voted for Mr Bush by close to 2-1 margin, and Protestants who attend church regularly voted for Mr Bush by 70-29 margin. MSNBC found that 78 per cent of "white, evangelical, born-again Christians" voted for Mr Bush, and those that described themselves as "white religious conservatives" gave him 96 per cent of their votes.

Only 14 per cent of the population, according to CNN, described themselves as "never" going to church and they voted overwhelmingly for Mr Kerry. "Occasional" churchgoers - 40 per cent of the voters - gave Mr Kerry a six-point margin.

Jews stayed in the Democratic column, but early signs were that Mr Bush did pick up a few points from that traditionally more liberal constituency.

Three to four per cent of voters identified themselves as gay, lesbian or bisexual - and about three-quarters of them voted for Mr Kerry, the polls showed. Overall, Mr Bush got about 51 per cent of the popular vote to Mr Kerry's 48.