Here's a look at the preliminary highlights from an exit poll of New Jersey voters in Tuesday's elections, conducted for The Associated Press:

Sign in front of polling location in Atlantic County
Sign in front of polling location in Atlantic County (Chris Coleman, Townsquare Media NJ)
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CHRISTIE WINS RE-ELECTION

Gov. Chris Christie elected to his second term as governor of New Jersey with strong support from whites, moderates, independents, voters over 40, and those opposing the health care law, among others.

TOP CONCERNS: ECONOMY

Nearly half of New Jersey voters surveyed said the economy was one issue that mattered most in deciding their vote with about half as many saying taxes were their top issue when voting. Even fewer said education and less than one in 10 chose same-sex marriage as the issue mattering most to them at the ballot box.

Almost six in 10 said the condition of the economy is either not so good or poor and voters were divided over whether New Jersey's economy is either better or worse today than it was four years ago.

Almost nine in 10 voters said they are worried about the direction of the nation's economy over the next year.

FEDERAL GOVERNMENT SHUTDOWN BLAME

New Jersey voters were more likely to blame Republicans in Congress than President Barack Obama for the recent federal government shutdown. Over half said they think Republicans in Congress are more to blame; about four in 10 said they blame the president. Voters in the state were split over how the president is doing his job overall.

HEALTH CARE

Voters were divided over how they feel about the health care law that was enacted in 2010.

GOVERNMENT ROLE

A slight majority of voters said government is doing too many things better left to businesses and individuals. More than four in 10 said the government should do more to solve problems.

PARTIES

Around half of the voters in the Garden State said they have a favorable opinion of the Democratic Party compared with about four in 10 having a favorable opinion of the Republican Party.

TEA PARTY

Almost half said they oppose the tea party movement and about one in five said they support the movement. Nearly a third said they were neutral on the movement.

The preliminary exit poll of 1,549 New Jersey voters was conducted for AP and the television networks by Edison Research in a random sample of 40 precincts statewide. Results were subject to sampling error of plus or minus 4 percentage points; it is higher for subgroups.

(Copyright 2013 The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved)

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