If the early exit poll trends in Michigan’s GOP primary hold up, it could spell trouble for Sen. John McCain.

AP, part of the news media consortium conducting the exit polling, says that the early analysis show Democrats are voting in the Republican primary in smaller numbers than they did in 2000, when they helped McCain win.

Other early findings from the poll:

The economy is more important to GOP voters in Michigan than it was in Iowa and New Hampshire. Half of Michigan Republicans picked the economy as the most important issue facing the country, compared with 26 percent in Iowa and 31 percent in New Hampshire.

McCain — he of the “Straight Talk Express” — has delivered a stronger dose of medicine to Michigan voters than his rivals, saying that there has to be recognition that some jobs have been lost forever. Native son Mitt Romney and Mike Huckabee said they don’t share that belief.

In addition to the economy, the GOP voters were given three other issues to choose from. The results: One in five voters picked Iraq, one in seven chose immigration and one in 10 chose terrorism.

The polls close at 8 p.m. (Central)

This entry was posted on Tuesday, January 15th, 2008 at 6:27 pm and is filed under Main, Republicans. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.