It was a mood that simmered through voters' comments on Sunday as Berliners strolled to vote under cloudless skies. The conversation kept coming back to the key question of whether the next government could solve Germany's protracted economic problems, but no one had an enthusiastic answer. "It was more a question of voting against someone, rather than in favor of anyone," said Antje Busknowitz, 32, an art historian on maternity leave. She chose Gerhard Schröder, the Social Democrat chancellor. Steffen Patz, her partner and father of their 10-month-old daughter, said he spent 15 minutes in the voting booth before choosing the Greens, Schröder's coalition partners of the past seven years. "The problem is that there are now so few differences between the big parties that the result won't really change very much," said Patz, 34, a computer specialist who grew up in the former East Germany. Plenty of voters - in both working class districts of former East Berlin and affluent western parts of this gritty, dynamic city - felt the Sunday vote was very important, but there was a sense that they could not see clearly who would lead them. "I never cared about politics but this time I really felt I have to go vote - there is too much at stake," said David Mehlhorn, a 27-year-old unemployed musician who had never voted before in any election. He chose the extreme Left Party which broke with Schröder's Social Democrats to fight this election. "I think the next few years will be crucial," he said, as he came out of a polling station in the eastern Prenzlauer Berg district. "They will determine whether things continue to go down or whether they finally improve." A race that appeared a foregone conclusion in May, when Schröder called early elections following a humiliating defeat for his Social Democrats in a key state election, electrified the nation in recent weeks as opinion polls increasingly predicted a neck-and-neck contest between him and his Christian Democrat challenger, Angela Merkel. On Sunday, that led to a paradoxical combination of hopeful anticipation and resignation. Even as many Berliners called the vote the most exciting one in years and planned to watch election coverage with friends throughout the evening, few appeared to endorse one political camp with much enthusiasm and some even said that they believed the outcome would make little difference. Indeed, with 30 percent of voters undecided only days before the election, many made up their minds at the very last minute. Explaining her choice of Schröder, Busknowitz sounded less than enthusiastic: "Schröder is just better at putting himself across," she said. "At least with him, our welfare state won't be demolished that much." Like many other German women in recent days, Busknowitz said she would have loved to see a woman lead Germany. But, she added, "Angela Merkel does not convince me." Margit Duppre, a 56-year-old who owns a high-technology company with her husband, by contrast allowed her support of a woman becoming chancellor to sway her for Merkel. "That was one big reason to vote for her," she said. Schröder and his Social Democrats seemed eager to exploit lukewarm feelings about Merkel as the first exit polls showed a clear defeat for her. While Schröder's party also lost votes - particularly to the new extreme Left Party - the chancellor and his aides clearly signaled that they would try to capitalize on their late surge in the campaign and hold on to power. Another point where the Social Democrats seemed to score was in their emphasis on preserving peace - or, as Schröder put it two weeks ago in his only television duel with Merkel, "keeping us out of superfluous wars." In 2002, Schröder clung to power partly because of his opposition to any war in Iraq. Bastian Lischewsky, 22, suggested this was a crucial difference. "In terms of domestic politics, it feels like this election makes no difference. Things are so bad that I can't see either side solving them quickly. But in terms of foreign policy, I do feel that Red-Green deserves our vote." Exit poll questioning by the ZDF television network showed that only 52 percent - a slender majority - said they favored a change of power. Certainly voters who said they wanted a new government were guarded in their expectations. In Wilmersdorf, a comfortable western neighborhood, Klaus Riediger said he opted for the Free Democrats because he did not trust Merkel's Christian Democrats to implement the far-reaching economic reforms he would like to see without the much smaller liberal party. "Merkel needs the liberals for her reforms," said Riediger, 57, a senior manager in a production company. He said reducing bureaucracy and subsidies were the most urgent measures needed to revive the economy and create jobs in Germany. But voters of all political colors seemed to agree on one thing: Whoever runs their country for the next four years would be closely scrutinized by an increasingly disillusioned electorate. "I have seen many crises in Germany and I can tell you that the country is in crisis mode today," said Elisabeth Schlehr, 82, a grandmother of six. "If in four years' time the economy and unemployment are where they are today, we would have a political crisis on top of the economic crisis."