Quinnipiac Poll Shows Clinton Keeps 6-point Lead
In a new poll just out, the Quinnipiac University Polling Institute's latest Pennsylvania's survey shows that Sen. Hillary Clinton has maintained her six-point lead over Sen. Barack Obama. Quinnipiac's assistant polling director Clay Richards reported that there was "no noticeable [change] in the matchup in polling April 12 - 13, following widespread media reports on Sen. Obama's 'bitter' comments."
More on the poll:
* White voters for Clinton 57 - 37 percent, compared to 56 - 38 percent last week;
* Black voters back Obama 86 - 8 percent, compared to 75 - 17 percent;
* Women back Clinton 54 - 40 percent, unchanged from 54 - 41 percent last week;
* Men are for Obama 51 - 43 percent, compared to a 48 - 44 percent tie last week;
* Reagan Democrats back Clinton 55 - 40 percent;
* Voters under 45 go with Obama 55 - 39, while older voters back Clinton 55 - 40 percent.
Fifty-five percent of those polls said they thought Obama would win the Democratic presidential nomination, including 32 percent of Clinton supporters.
"Sen. Hillary Clinton is fighting off Sen. Barack Obama's drive to make it a close race in the Pennsylvania Democratic primary, holding the six-point edge she had a week ago. She seems to have halted the erosion of whites and white women in particular from her campaign," said Richards.
"Two big questions are whether the Clinton forces can keep from getting discouraged by all the talk she can't win the nomination even if she wins Pennsylvania and whether enthusiasm for Obama will translate into a record turnout of blacks and young first-time voters that would deny Clinton the victory she needs to stay alive," Richards added.
The poll of more than 2000 likely Democratic voters also found that 26 percent of Clinton voters said they would switch to Republican nominee Sen. John McCain in the fall if Obama was the nominee; 19 percent of Obama supporters said they would switch.
10:05 AM ET | 04-15-2008 | permalink
