Obama more likely than Clinton to defeat McCain: Poll

PHILADELPHIA: Hillary Clinton, already fighting with her back to the wall, got more bad news - Democrats now see her rival Barack Obama as better able to defeat Republican presumptive candidate John McCain.
    
A poll by ABC News/Washington Posed released on Wednesday shows that Democrats now believe that Obama is more likely to win in November elections by a huge margin of 62 to 31 per cent. This takes away her major argument to super delegates, who are likely to finally decide on the candidate, that she is more likely to win the election.
    
This new figures show dramatic support for Obama who was trailing Clinton by five percentage points in February.
    
The poll finds other pronounced problems for Clinton. Among all Americans, 58 percent now say she's not honest and not trustworthy, 16 points higher than in a pre campaign poll two years ago. Obama beats her head-to-head on this attribute by a 23-point margin.
    
The number of Americans who see Clinton unfavorably overall has risen to a record high in ABC/Post polling, 54 percent -- up 14 points since January. Obama's unfavorable score has reached a new high as well, up 9 points, but to a lower 39 percent.
    
The number of Democrats and Democratic-leaning independents who describe the tone of the contest as "mostly negative" has risen by 14 points since February, from 27 percent then to 41 percent now. Those who say so mainly blame Clinton over Obama, by nearly a 4-1 margin, 52 percent to 14 percent. An additional 25 percent blame both equally.
    
In a similar result, half of Democrats say their candidates are "arguing about things that really aren't that important" rather than discussing real issues.
    
The candidates are at or near dead heats in trust to handle a range of issues, including the economy, the war in Iraq, international trade and terrorism, the poll shows.
    
Clinton's lack of a significant advantage on these, despite her wide edge on experience, is another challenge, ABC said, releasing the poll.
    
Obama, meanwhile, has largely succeeded in moving past the controversial comments made by the former minister of his church, the Rev. Jeremiah Wright; 59 percent of all adults, and 72 percent of leaned Democrats, approve of the way Obama has distanced himself from Wright. Nearly half of Democrats, however, are concerned the Republicans will use the Wright imbroglio effectively against Obama if he is nominated.
    
Nor does the controversy over Obama's remark calling some voters "bitter" seem to have hurt; his favorability rating, though down from January, lost no ground across the nights this poll was done (Thursday through Sunday) as the issue gained volume.
    
Equally problematic for Clinton in all this is the bottom line: Democrats by 51 to 41 percent say they'd like to see Obama win the nomination, his biggest advantage to date.
    
Yet most Democrats are also willing to see Clinton fight on; 55 percent say she should stay in the race even if she loses Pennsylvania. One reason is that about as many, 53 percent, say it's more important to them that their candidate wins, even if that means a longer race.
    
Another factor is that most Democrats reject the notion that the long campaign will damage their chances in November.

While 32 percent share this view, more, 67 percent, believe that ultimately the length of the race either won't make much difference in the general election (50 percent) or will end up helping the Democrats' cause (17 percent).