Hillary Clinton continues to lead her rivals among Democrats but finds herself trailing behind Barack Obama & John Edwards among the independent voters.
NEW YORK: US Presidential hopeful Hillary Clinton continues to lead her rivals by substantial margin among Democrats but finds herself trailing behind Barack Obama and John Edwards among the independent voters, a new poll released a year before the election shows.
The poll results, however, do somewhat call into question the Democratic frontrunner's electability come next November. Clinton's support tops out at 49 per cent in trial heats against Republicans Rudy Giuliani, Fred Thompson and Mitt Romney.
Her four-point margin (49 per cent to 45 per cent) over Thompson and Romney is significantly less than Edwards's and Obama's performance in those head-to-heads. Obama and Edwards both lead Romney by 53 to 37 per cent. Edwards leads Thompson 53 to 39 per cent; Obama leads him 52 to 39 per cent.
The poll, conducted for Newsweek by Princeton Survey Research Associates International from October 31 to November one, finds that Clinton gets 44 per cent votes of the overall Democratic vote, compared to 24 per cent for Obama and 12 per cent for Edwards.
She is the first choice of 45 per cent of self-identified Democrats. She also trounces Obama among Democratic female voters (48 to 19 per cent) and enjoys a marginal lead among male Democratic voters (38 to 32 per cent). Obama runs better among younger Democratic voters and minorities.
Still, Obama and Edwards both run significantly stronger than Clinton among independents.
On the other side, Rudy Giuliani has also held his lead over his field of competitors with 30 per cent of the Republican vote. And Fred Thompson has slipped from a high point of 22 per cent support in August to 15 per cent on Monday, although he remains ahead of both John McCain and Mitt Romney.
The only Republican to have gained ground since last poll conducted by Newsweek in August is former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee (at 7 per cent, up from 2 per cent). But, also like Clinton, Giuliani's support is strongest among registered party voters (at 31 per cent), before it softens among voters who 'lean' Republican (23 per cent.)
When the two parties are pitted against each other, Giuliani gives the three Democratic leaders a close race. He trails Clinton by 4 points and Edwards and Obama by 3 points.
Still, Newsweek says, the unpopularity of President George W Bush will be a significant obstacle for any Republican nominee to overcome. A 58 per cent majority of all voters and two-thirds (66 per cent) of independents say they have an unfavorable view of Bush.
If billionaire New York mayor Michael Bloomberg were to run as an independent, he'd do more to help the Democrats, according to the poll.
In a three-way race against Clinton and Giuliani, Clinton leads with 44 per cent to Giuliani's 38 per cent and Bloomberg's 11 per cent.
Evangelical Republican voters, meanwhile, do not appear to be gravitating toward one candidate in particular.
Their support is divided among Giuliani (23 per cent), McCain (17 per cent), Thompson (15 per cent), Huckabee (10 per cent), and, lastly, Romney, who is Mormon (9 per cent).
Among Republicans who do not identify themselves as Evangelical Protestant, 34 per cent are backing Giuliani, putting him well ahead of Thompson and Romney.
Interestingly, this is shaping up to be an election where there is no single overriding issue that concerns voters.
The economy and jobs actually come before the war in Iraq (22 to 19 per cent), followed by health care (17 per cent) and terrorism and national security (15 per cent).
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