A combination of women, Hispanics and voters in smaller towns and rural areas of the state provided the winning edge for Hillary Rodham Clinton in New Mexico's Democratic presidential caucus.

Clinton was the choice of a majority of women who voted in the caucus, and she enjoyed particularly strong support among Hispanic women, according to results from exit polls conducted for The Associated Press and television networks. Women accounted for more than half of caucus-goers.

Clinton carried the state by 1,709 votes over Barack Obama, according to official results released by the state Democratic Party. She won in all but six of the state's 33 counties. Obama won Bernalillo, Catron, Los Alamos, Sandoval, Santa Fe and Taos counties.

The exit poll of voters at caucus sites offers insight into why Clinton won and who supported her in the Feb. 5 contest. New Mexico voters split largely along racial and ethnic lines and gender in their support for Clinton and Obama.

Age and ideology also played a role in the election. Voters over 60 and moderates favored Clinton. Obama carried self-described liberals, which helps explain why he did so well in the Santa Fe area.

Hispanics accounted for slightly more than a third of caucus voters, and they strongly favored Clinton over Obama. That also was true in other states with Super Tuesday contests.

In New Mexico, 62 percent of Hispanics backed Clinton and 36 percent supported Obama. She did better among Hispanic women than men.

Almost two-thirds of Hispanic women and 56 percent of Hispanic men supported Clinton.

She also ran stronger among older Hispanics. Clinton was the choice of 70 percent of Hispanics age 60 and older.

Among all women, 52 percent backed Clinton and 46 percent favored Obama. Clinton's support among Hispanic women made the difference, however. Obama did slightly better than Clinton among white, non-Hispanic women.

Overall, Clinton's support among women was less in New Mexico than in other presidential contests with exit polls on Feb. 5.

Obama won among men, 53 percent to Clinton's 43 percent.

He also won among white, non-Hispanic voters, who accounted for the largest share of caucus-goers. Fifty-five percent backed Obama and 43 percent were for Clinton.

Obama ran stronger among white men than he did among women. Fifty-nine percent of white men supported him; 51 percent of women.

Geographically, Clinton's support was strongest in communities between 10,000 and 50,000. There she was favored by 62 percent of caucus voters. She had slight majorities in rural areas and in suburbs. Obama was backed by 56 percent of voters in communities above 50,000.

Clinton did best among white voters in the 2nd Congressional District of Southern New Mexico, where she and Obama ran nearly even.

The results came from exit polling in 20 precincts in New Mexico by Edison Media Research and Mitofsky International conducted for The Associated Press and television networks. Included were interviews with 913 Democratic caucus voters. The margin of sampling error was plus or minus 5 percentage points.