New 2008 Poll: Obama Gains on Clinton, Giuliani Leads McCain

National   |   Steven Ertelt   |   Feb 26, 2007   |   9:00AM   |   WASHINGTON, DC

New 2008 Poll: Obama Gains on Clinton, Giuliani Leads McCain Email this article
Printer friendly page

by Steven Ertelt
LifeNews.com Editor
February 26
, 2007

Washington, DC (LifeNews.com) — A new national Zogby International survey finds pro-abortion New York Sen. Hillary Clinton seeing her lead over pro-abortion Illinois Sen. Barack Obama shrinking. The poll also finds Rudy Giuliani, the pro-abortion ex-New York City mayor, expanding his lead over Arizona Sen. John McCain.

Zogby polled 1,078 likely voters over the telephone and said their new poll has a 3 percent margin of error.

In analyzing voters’ opinion of Democrats, the poll finds Clinton with the support of 33 percent, up four points since the January Zogby poll.

However, Obama has risen strongly in the last six weeks and now has the support of 25 percent of Democrats. That’s almost double the 14 percent mark Obama hit in the last poll.

The Zogby survey shows Edwards, who backs abortion, is a distant third with the support of 12 percent and about 20 percent of those Democrats polled say they don’t know who they support.

A handful of candidates also seeking the party’s nod barely show up on the radar with pro-abortion New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson with 5 percent, pro-abortion Delaware Sen. Joe Biden with 2 percent, and a smattering of other candidates getting 3 percent combined.

Meanwhile, 29 percent of Republicans now support Giuliani, an increase over his 21 percent point mark in January. McCain has seen his share of the GOP voter support move up slightly to 20 percent from 17 percent last time.

Mitt Romney, the former Massachusetts governor who recently shifted his position to oppose abortion, received the support of 9 percent in the new Zogby poll.

Two Republican who don’t appear likely to run — Secretary of State Condoleeza Rice and former House Speaker New Gingrich — both received 7 percent.

The poll found they were backed by more conservative Republican voters, which points to the lack of sufficiently pro-life candidates in the top tier. Had Rice and Gingrich not been included, the Republican results could have been drastically different.

In fact, among GOP voters who called themselves "very conservative" — and the ones most likely to make a difference in Iowa and New Hampshire — Romney received 23 percent, Gingrich 22 percent, Rice 13 percent and Kansas Sen. Sam Brownback 9 percent.

Giuliani picked up just 4 percent of the "very conservative" Republican vote and McCain just three percent.

These numbers suggest that Romney and Brownback will do better once voters in the leading primary states begin to pay significant attention to the primary later in the year.

Brownback, seen as the strongest pro-life candidate, picked up 4 percent in the latest Zogby poll and pro-life congressman Duncan Hunter of California and Tom Tancredo of Colorado both got 1 percent.

A large 19 percent of the Republican voters were undecided and four percent named another candidate they support.

Examining the poll further, Clinton appears to be gaining support from older voters while Obama has the backing of younger Democrats. Clinton leads among white Democrats while Obama has a similar-sized lead with blacks.

Liberal Democrats back Obama while more moderate voters support Clinton. Men are split on the two leading Democrats while women strongly favor Clinton.

Meanwhile, Giuliani leads McCain in every age bracket.