WASHINGTON -- Robust support from working-class whites and controversies over Barack Obama's former pastor and suspending the federal gas tax fed an unusually strong performance by Hillary Rodham Clinton in West Virginia's presidential primary.
Clinton ran away with the contest partly by capitalizing on the state's nearly all-white population and its low number of well-educated residents -- two segments of voters that have backed her solidly all year.
Whites without college degrees were seven in 10 voters, according to exit polls Tuesday, more than any other state that has voted. Among them, about seven in 10 were supporting the New York senator, one of her best performances of the year with that group.
Looking ahead, just 45 percent of whites without college degrees said they would back Obama should he oppose Republican John McCain in the general election. Though Obama seems to have a near-insurmountable lead among convention delegates, Clinton has cited his struggles winning over working-class, white voters to argue she would be the stronger candidate.
Racial attitudes also came into play, and unfavorably for Obama, who aims to become the first black president. One in five whites said race influenced their choice of a candidate, one of the highest proportions who have said so in states that have voted thus far.
Of them, eight in 10 backed Clinton, roughly matching the high set by several other Southern states with this group. Only a third of whites who identified race as a factor said they would vote for Obama against McCain, with the rest about evenly divided between saying they'd back the Arizona senator or stay home Election Day.
Though Obama has denounced his former pastor, the Rev. Jeremiah Wright, for saying the U.S. invited the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks and other statements, half said they believed the Illinois senator shares Wright's views a lot or somewhat. Eight in 10 of them backed Clinton.
Forty-four percent of those who flatly said Obama did not agree with Wright still gave Clinton their votes.
The former first lady also has supported suspending the federal gasoline tax this summer to help motorists cope with rising gas prices, a proposal Obama has called an ineffective ploy aimed at winning votes. Six in 10 West Virginia voters liked the idea. Of those favoring the plan, three-fourths backed Clinton. Even those saying it was a bad proposal were evenly split between the two rivals.
Yet at the same time, three-quarters said they made up their minds on a candidate a month or more ago. Two-thirds of them backed Clinton -- a proportion of early deciders topped only by those who backed her in her former home state of Arkansas, and by Obama's Illinois supporters.
Six in 10 overall said Bill Clinton's campaigning was important in choosing a candidate. Eight in 10 of them voted for his wife.
Clinton ran unusually strongly across virtually all types of voters. She even won among many groups that Obama typically wins, including men, people under age 30, college graduates, independents and the very liberal.
She also dominated, as usual, among whites and women. There were not enough blacks in the exit poll samples for meaningful figures.
Underscoring the divisions the long Democratic campaign has sown, only three in 10 of those surveyed said they would be satisfied if either Clinton or Obama gets the nomination -- well below the 46 percent average of all states that have voted so far. More than four in 10 said they only wanted Clinton to win, and just one in seven said they'd only be happy with Obama.
In a further indication of sharp feelings, only 54 percent of those voting for Obama said they would vote for Clinton should she be the party's candidate in November. Repeating a familiar pattern from previous states, Clinton's supporters were even more negative: Just 38 percent said they would vote for Obama over McCain.
The results were from exit polling by Edison Media Research and Mitofsky International for The Associated Press and television networks conducted in 30 precincts in the state.
The data was based on 1,478 people voting in West Virginia's Democratic contest, with a margin of sampling error of plus or minus 4 percentage points.
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