LAT/Bloomberg Poll: Attacks From Obama and Edwards Have Had No Effect On Clinton Nationally

[wyldwolf]

Among likely Democratic voters across the nation, the Times/Bloomberg poll found that Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton of New York has maintained a solid lead, even as polls in Iowa show she remains locked in a tight three-way contest there with Sen. Barack Obama of Illinois and former Sen. John Edwards of North Carolina.

Nationally, Clinton was favored by 45% of those polled; 21% chose Obama, and 11% were for Edwards.

Those figures represent slight increases for Obama and Edwards and a small drop for Clinton since the October survey. But all the changes fall within the poll's margin of error.

Among Democratic voters, Clinton's continuing double-digit lead suggests that stepped-up attacks on her by Obama and Edwards in recent candidate debates did not drive away backers nationwide.

Cecelia Holaway, a restaurant worker in Georgia, said she might change her mind about supporting Clinton -- but not because of sniping from her male rivals.

"It's just because she's a woman and they feel intimidated by her," Holaway said.

Although polls in Iowa have shown Obama making gains in the state among the elderly and women -- core pillars of Clinton's support -- he has not done so nationally.

In the new poll, Clinton continued to build on her strength among the elderly, winning support from 54% of voters over 65 years of age (a 10-point increase since October), compared with 12% for Obama.

Also, more than half of Democratic-leaning women supported Clinton, far outstripping the 20% for Obama.

The poll included four hypothetical general-election matchups with Clinton, Obama, Giuliani and Romney. In each case, the Democrat outpolled the Republican -- although in some cases by only a narrow margin.

The widest gap came when voters were asked to choose between Obama and Romney (45% to 33%). The tightest contest was between Clinton and Giuliani (46% to 42%).

http://www.latimes.com/news/politics/la-na-poll5dec05,0,2520452,full.story?coll=la-home-center

[William769]

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