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Poll: Obama beats Clinton among N.J. Dems
New Jersey voters are proving as fickle as the April weather.
Only two months after handing U.S. Sen. Hillary Clinton a healthy 10-point presidential primary win over Sen. Barack Obama, the state's Democratic voters now say they prefer Obama for president by the same margin, a new Monmouth University/Gannett New Jersey poll found.
And in a head-to-head contest, John McCain — the presumptive Republican presidential nominee — would lose to either Democrat if the election were held today. The poll found that Obama would defeat McCain by 24 percentage points, while Clinton's vic-tory margin would be 14 points.
So what's happened since the Feb. 5 Democratic primary, when Clinton beat Obama 55 to 45 percent?
"New Jersey Democrats see that Obama has the (nationwide) lead, and they feel he should win the nomination," said Patrick Murray, director of the Monmouth University Polling Institute. "Democrats want to see the party united. They feel that if this (contest) goes on, it will hurt the party."
The poll results showed that nearly 40 percent of Democrats said the continuing battle between Obama and Clinton will damage the party's chances in the November general election.
Regardless, the poll found that no matter who wins the Democratic nomination, he or she will defeat McCain in the state.
Comments (3)
Link to article.
April 30, 2008 4:38 AM | Reply | Permalink
I'm not surprised by this at all. Many voters did not know in early February who Obama was. I bet he'd come close to outpolling Clinton in California as well, though still lose in NY state. That is what makes the I won the Big States in the primary argument specious.
April 30, 2008 8:28 AM | Reply | Permalink
What about the "I lost NH and most of the states I wanted to win on Super Tuesday, but thank God the media didn't call it a 'victory' for Sen. Clinton, so now people know me" argument.
Or, if you would rather, the RED RED states are still VERY important.
April 30, 2008 9:18 AM | Reply | Permalink
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