Nov 6 (Reuters) - U.S. presidential elections are all

about "the economy, stupid", said Bill Clinton's strategist

James Carville in 1992.

And for American voters who cared more about the economy

than other issues - and the nearly half who said they are worse

off financially than four years ago - their choice for the next

president appeared resoundingly clear: Republican Donald Trump.

Trump claimed victory in the 2024 presidential contest after

Fox News projected that he had defeated Democrat Kamala Harris

after he won in the battleground states of Pennsylvania, North

Carolina and Georgia.

He was leading in each of the remaining four battleground

states, any one of which would push his Electoral College total

above the 270 needed to win.

About 31% of voters said the economy was their top issue,

ranking second behind the 35% who said the state of democracy

mattered most to them, according to national exit polling data

from Edison Research. And the voters who identified the economy

as their primary concern voted overwhelmingly for Trump over

Harris - 79% to 20%.

Meanwhile, the high inflation of the last couple of years

and the toll that has taken on perceptions of financial

well-being stood out as clear concerns that also steered voters

toward Trump.

More than half of voters said inflation had caused them a

moderate hardship in the last year, while nearly one in four

said it had caused a severe hardship. Those saying it had caused

a moderate difficulty leaned somewhat more to Trump, 50% to 47%,

but 73% of those calling it a severe hardship voted for the

former president.

Edison's exit polling data showed 45% of voters across the

country said their family's financial situation was worse today

than four years ago, compared with just 20% in 2020. Those

voters favored Trump over Harris 80% to 17%.

The results dovetail with surveys that have shown consumers

giving the economy poor ratings even though unemployment is near

historic lows, growth overall has been largely above trend,

consumer spending remains robust, and overall household wealth

is at a record high.

The University of Michigan's twice-monthly Consumer

Sentiment Index, for instance, plunged to a record low in the

summer of 2022 when inflation as measured by the Consumer Price

Index peaked at 9.1% year-over-year - the highest since the

early 1980s.

While it has improved in the two years since as stiff

interest rate increases by the Federal Reserve have brought

inflation back to near the central bank's 2% target, sentiment

remains well below the levels that prevailed during Trump's

first term from 2017 to 2021.

(Editing by Catherine Evans)