PollsThe basic math for Tuesday’s election was simple: Most people think the economy is in awful shape. Those feeling that way voted solidly Republican. In a more detailed breakdown, conservative Tea Party supporters supplied about 2 of every 3 GOP votes while the majority of women, independents, suburbanites, and white Catholics voted for Republican House candidates, according to a national exit poll of voters.

Four in 10 voters said their personal finances had grown worse under President Barack Obama. These voters  leaned strongly Republican.

About 54 percent of voters expressed disapproval of the job the president is doing, and similar numbers said his policies would harm the country. Almost 4 in 10 considered their House vote an expression of opposition to Obama. A quarter said their vote signaled support for the president.

About three-quarters of voters expressed dissatisfaction with how the federal government works, and a majority said the government should more often leave people and businesses alone. These voted heavily Republican.

Hardly any first-time voters went to the polls Tuesday despite Obama’s campaign-trail pleas—a contrast to 2008, when about 1 in 10 voters were new and strongly backed Obama.

Independents supported him solidly two years ago but on Tuesday disapproved of his job performance by almost 3-2. They gave Republican candidates about 55 percent of their votes after leaning solidly Democratic in Obama’s 2008 presidential race and the 2006 midterms that saw Democrats win congressional control.

Asked to choose among three issues, about 4 in 10 want Congress to focus on reducing the federal deficit while nearly as many prefer spending to create jobs. Tax cuts finished last.

About 4 in 10 want to continue the tax cuts approved under President George W. Bush, including reductions for people earning at least $250,000 annually. About an equal number want to let the cuts expire for the wealthiest earners. Close to half want to repeal the healthcare overhaul and about the same number want to expand it or leave it as is.

The results are from a survey that Edison Research conducted for The Associated Press and television networks with 18,132 voters nationwide. This included interviews with 16,531 voters Tuesday in a random sample of 268 precincts nationally. In addition, landline and cellular telephone interviews were conducted Oct. 22-31 with 1,601 people who voted early or absentee. There is a margin of sampling error of plus or minus 1 percentage point for the entire sample, higher for subgroups.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

See WORLD’s interactive national map for complete election results from across the country.