Hillary Rodham
Clinton now leads John McCain by 9 points in a
head-to-head presidential matchup, according to an
Associated Press-Ipsos poll that bolsters her argument
that she is more electable than Democratic rival
Barack Obama. Obama and Republican McCain are running
about even.
The survey
released Monday gives the New York senator and former first
lady a fresh talking point as she works to raise much-needed
campaign cash and persuade pivotal undecided
superdelegates to side with her in the drawn-out
Democratic primary fight.
Helped by
independents, young people and seniors, Clinton gained
ground this month in a hypothetical match with Sen.
McCain, the GOP nominee-in-waiting. She now leads
McCain, 50 percent to 41 percent, while Obama remains
virtually tied with McCain, 46 percent to 44 percent.
Both Democrats
were roughly even with McCain in the previous poll about
three weeks ago.
Since then,
Clinton won the Pennsylvania primary, raising questions anew
about whether Obama can attract broad swaths of voters
needed to triumph in such big states come the fall
when the Democratic nominee will go up against McCain.
At the same time, Obama was thrown on the defensive by
his comment that residents of small-town America were
bitter. The Illinois senator also continued to deal
with the controversial remarks of his longtime Chicago
pastor, the Rev. Jeremiah Wright.
''I don't think
there's any question that over the last three weeks her
stature has improved,'' said Harrison Hickman, a Democratic
pollster unaligned in the primary. He attributed
Clinton's gains to people moving from the
''infatuation stage'' of choosing the candidate they like
the most to a ''decision-making stage'' where they
determine who would make the best president.
Added Steve
Lombardo, a GOP pollster: ''This just reinforces the
sentiment that a lot of Republican strategists are having
right now -- that Clinton might actually be the more
formidable fall candidate for a lot of reasons, not
the least of which is that Obama can't seem to get his
footing back.''
The AP-Ipsos poll
found Clinton and Obama about even in the race for the
Democratic nomination. Underscoring deep divisions within
the Democratic Party -- and a potentially negative
longer-term impact -- 30 percent of Clinton supporters
and 21 percent of Obama supporters said they would
vote for McCain in November if their preferred candidate
didn't win the nomination.
Obama leads
Clinton in pledged delegates, but she has the advantage
among superdelegates with about a third yet to make up
their minds.
Democratic Party
Chairman Howard Dean said Monday that one of the two
must drop out of the race after the primary season wraps up
in June so Democrats can unite before the late-summer
convention and the fall campaign.
He also urged
undecided superdelegates -- members of the Democratic
National Committee as well as Democratic governors and
members of Congress -- to side with either Clinton or
Obama before the August convention so the party can
come together to take on McCain. The Arizona senator
clinched the GOP nomination last month and has been
campaigning freely since.
Also on Monday,
the head of the Republicans' House campaign committee
said the party would rather face Obama in November because
the GOP believes Clinton would be more of a threat to
McCain among moderate voters.
Said Tom Cole, a
congressman from Oklahoma: Obama ''is by any definition
very liberal, to the left of Hillary Clinton, in a
center-right country. That is very, very helpful to
us.''
Nearly half the
people in the AP-Ipsos poll said the protracted
Democratic primary will hurt their party's chances in
November; more Obama supporters than Clinton backers
said they had that fear.
Overall, people
said they trusted Clinton and Obama about the same to
handle Iraq and the economy; McCain got similar ratings on
Iraq but trailed both Democrats on the economy. And
while roughly the same percentage of people said they
trusted both Democrats to understand their problems,
fewer trusted McCain.
When pitted
against McCain, Clinton now wins among independents, 50
percent to 34 percent, when just a few weeks ago she ran
about even with him with this crucial group of voters.
Clinton also now does better among independents than
Obama does in a matchup with McCain.
Clinton has a
newfound edge among seniors, too, 51 percent to 39 percent;
McCain had previously had the advantage. And, Clinton has
improved her margin over McCain among people under age
30; two-thirds of them now side with her. McCain leads
Obama among seniors, while Obama leads McCain among
those under 30 but by a smaller margin than Clinton does.
She also now
leads among Catholics, always an important swing voting
group in a general election, and improved her standing in
the South as well as in cities and among families
making under $25,000 a year. But she lost ground among
families making between $50,000 and $100,000; they
narrowly support McCain.
The poll, taken
April 23-27, questioned 1,001 adults nationally, with a
margin of error of 3.1 percentage points. Included were
interviews with 457 Democratic voters and people
leaning Democratic, with a margin of sampling error of
plus or minus 4.6 points, and 346 Republicans or
GOP-leaning voters, with a margin of sampling error of plus
or minus 5.3 points. (Liz Sidoti, AP)