( CNN ) -- Strong support from young and minority voters propelled Barack Obama on the road to the White House , exit polls showed Tuesday . Students wait in a long line to vote Tuesday on the campus of the University of Central Florida . Voters in the 18 to 24 age group broke 68 percent for Obama to 30 percent for John McCain , according to the exit polling . Those in the 25 to 29 age bracket went 69 percent to 29 percent in Obama 's favor . The only age group where McCain prevailed was 65 and over , and that by just a 10-percentage-point margin , 54 percent to 44 percent , the exit polls showed . And minorities went heavily into the Obama camp . Blacks , 96 percent Obama to 3 percent McCain ; Latinos , 67 percent Obama to 30 percent McCain ; and Asians , 63 percent Obama to 34 percent McCain . Obama did well with Latinos because they appear to disapprove of President Bush 's job performance more than the rest of the country , CNN senior political analyst Bill Schneider said . Watch CNN 's Bill Schneider explain the Latino impact » . About 80 percent of Latinos give Bush negative marks , while 72 percent of all Americans do , exit polling showed . Race played less of a role in the election than age , exit polls showed . While Obama is projected to be the nation 's first black president , John McCain would have been the oldest person ever elected to the nation 's highest office . Twice as many of those polled Tuesday said age was an important factor in their vote as those who said race was . Among those factoring age into their vote , 78 percent went for Obama to 21 percent for McCain , exit polls showed . Those who said race was an important factor voted 55 percent to 44 percent in favor of Obama . But Obama also was the winner by a similar margin among those who said race was not important , `` which suggests that race was not a decisive factor in this election , '' Schneider said . The economy was the top issue in the election among 62 percent of voters questioned in exit polls on Tuesday . It was far ahead of the second-place issue , the Iraq war , which was named as the top concern of 10 percent of voters polled . Those who picked the Iraq war as their top issue mostly voted for Obama in all but two states , according to the early exit polling results . Health care and terrorism were tied at 9 percent as the issue voters were most concerned about , according to the exit polling . Those who picked terrorism as their top concern overwhelmingly choose McCain , according to exit polling . In early exit polling , first-time voters were breaking overwhelmingly for Obama over McCain by a 72 percent to 27 percent margin . Watch what first-time voters had to say in Florida » . High income voters -- those who said they make at least $ 100,000 a year -- went in Obama 's favor , 52 percent to 47 percent . Many of those polled said they expect a post-election tax increase , with 49 percent predicting their taxes will rise no matter who is elected president . Another 22 percent said taxes will go up only if Obama wins , and 12 percent said taxes will go up only if McCain wins . Only 15 percent said their taxes will stay the same or go down . A bare majority of those surveyed -- 51 percent -- think the government should do more to solve problems . Forty-three percent believe the government is doing too much . At the same time , early exit polling shows only a minority of voters -- 40 percent -- support the $ 700 billion government plan to assist failing financial companies . Fifty-six percent are opposed . Watch CNN 's Bill Schneider explain how the economy dominated voter concerns » . GOP vice presidential nominee Sarah Palin did n't do well in exit polls . Sixty percent of those polled said the Alaska governor is not qualified to be president if necessary ; 38 percent said she is . That compares with the two-thirds of those polled who said Democratic vice presidential nominee Joe Biden is qualified to be president and the 31 percent who said he is n't . Watch CNN 's Jack Cafferty ask what issue is most important » . Many voters told the pollsters that they made up their minds early in the campaign season , with 61 percent saying they made up their minds before September , another 13 percent saying they decided in September and 17 percent saying they made their selection last month . Only 7 percent of those polled decided whom to support within the last three days . Exit polling also showed that Democrats who supported Sen. Hillary Clinton during the primaries overwhelming voted for Obama in the general election , 84 percent to 15 percent for McCain . For the poll , more than 16,000 people who had just voted were selected at random to fill out questionnaires . CNN 's Joe Von Kanel and Hal Quinley contributed to this report .
NEW : Voters Tuesday and older only age group to go Hillary Clinton 's way . Twice as many voters factored in age than did race . Barack Obama scores large majority of second -time voters . 27 percent of those polled expect tax increases .