POLL: Clinton More Beatable than Obama (Obama beats McCain 48-41, Hillary and McCain tied at 46)

[jefferson_dem]

Thursday, Feb. 07, 2008
TIME Poll: Clinton More Beatable than Obama
By Michael Duffy/Washington

Though the real election is nine months away, Sen. Barack Obama would fare slightly better than Sen. Hillary Clinton in a head to head match-up with Sen. John McCain if the general election were held today, a new TIME poll reveals.

Obama captured 48% of the vote in the theoretical match-up against McCain's 41%, the TIME poll reported, while Clinton and McCain would deadlock at 46% of the vote each. Put another way, McCain looks at the moment to have a narrowly better chance of beating the New York Senator than he does the relative newcomer from Illinois.

The difference, says Mark Schulman, CEO of Abt SRBI, which conducted the poll for TIME, is that "independents tilt toward McCain when he is matched up against Clinton But they tilt toward Obama when he is matched up against the Illinois Senator." Independents, added Schulman, "are a key battleground."

For much of the year, Democrats have enjoyed a wide margin over any Republican rival in theoretical match-ups. Those margins have begun to shrink in recent weeks.

According to the new poll, Democratic voters favor Clinton over Obama for the Democratic nomination by a margin of 48% to 42%.

Seventy percent of the voters polled by TIME said Bill Clinton's recent performance on the campaign trail had "no influence" on whether they were more or less likely to vote for his wife. Nineteen percent of voters said Clinton's recent comments made them less likely to vote for her; nine percent of voters said it made them more likely to vote for her.

The poll also sampled all voters' views of several possible vice presidential choices — and their various impacts on a potential race. According to the survey results, 62% of likely voters want Hillary Clinton to name Obama as her running mate. By contrast, only 51% of the same voters want Obama to return the favor. The same voters, by a margin of 55% to 11%, believed that Obama would help rather than hurt Clinton's chances were he to become her running mate. If Obama tapped Clinton as his running mate, that margin shifted, with 38% saying it would help his chances and 31% saying it would hurt.

The survey of nearly 1,000 likely registered voters was conducted February 1 through February 4, before Super Tuesday and the departure from the Republican race of former Massachusetts governor Mitt Romney.

http://www.time.com/time/nation/article/0,8599,1711123,00.html

[BeyondGeography]

1. It's obvious

now, back to pushing that boulder up the Hill.

[TeamJordan23]

2. Been saying this all along. Hillary cannot win Indeps. nm

[Kahuna]

3. She also doesn't do well with men. Serves her right since she seems

to be pandering solely to women.

[Azathoth]

4. Maybe if Hillary challenges McCain to a few hundred debates, he'll drop dead of exhaustion

Seems like the only tactic she has left these days.

[bluestateguy]

5. With Hillary we have a classic blue state-red state election

And we know how those have worked out lately.

[rocktivity]

6. Get thee behind me, poll!

UNCLEAN! UNCLEAN!!!!



x(
rocknation

[merci_me]

7. Ignore the friggin polls!!!

They've been so unreliable for all candidates, even from day to day.

You're spinning your wheels looking at polls for November. We have no idea who the veeps will be, either. If McCain asks Huckabee, a lot of those Limpball types will come back to support satan McCain and then get down on their knees and pray that the 72 year old will die quickly.

Just chose a Democratic candidate and support them now. And after the convention, pull up your socks and get out there and work your ass off for whoever our Democratic candidate is.

If you can't do that, put your efforts and money down ticket and get our Democratic president, a strong House and Senate.

[loveangelc]

8. this matches pretty much every poll..

[DemCam]

9. As we know...10 months out it is garbahge....

Check the polls 10 months ago and what did they say then?

[loveangelc]

11. Hillary is more beatable to them. I believe that 100%.

[flpoljunkie]

10. Independents are the key. We Democrats ignore this at our peril.

[onehandle]

12. And Edwards beat McCain by more that either of them.

What? I can't play this little game?

[RiverStone]

13. Why don't Hillary supporters see this and acknowledge a problem?

GoBama! :kick:

[Alhena]

14. Every poll I've seen has shown this ... it's no outlier

[Icyclemort]

15. Crossing my fingers thats true in the voting booth as well

Just hoping that the Bradley effect is truly a thing of the past.

(nothing you can really test in the primary season, as these are the 30% most dedicated part of the electorate. Average Joe casts his vote in November.)

[angie_love]

16. seems accurate

[Blondiegrrl]

17. I'm not surprised. Voting for Hillary is akin to shooting oneself in the foot.

Sadly, the Democrats have a habit of nominating the most unelectable candidate.

(See "John Kerry.")

[VotesForWomen]

18. completely meaningless; the two candidates have not faced each other yet. nt

[billbuckhead]

19. This isn't another Zogby poll?

Who can trust the polling promoted by the corporate media.