Obama seen as more likely to beat McCain

[BT]

New poll: McCain would beat Democrats in November

By Tom Brune
MCT
Published on: 02/27/08

WASHINGTON ? Presumptive Republican nominee John McCain, who has largely tied his candidacy to the war in Iraq, narrowly leads both Barack Obama and Hillary Rodham Clinton in a general election matchup, according to a new Los Angeles Times-Bloomberg poll.

Among those surveyed, McCain won higher marks than either Obama or Clinton for having the right experience and the ability to handle Iraq and terrorism ? and most other issues, except health care.

Yet both Obama and Clinton, whose primary battle has generated great interest and excitement, appear to have succeeded in convincing most voters that they would more likely be the ones to bring change to Washington, the poll showed.

Still, the poll found McCain would beat Clinton in a general election matchup 46 percent to 40 percent, and he would edge by Obama 44 percent to 42 percent.

In both cases, McCain's lead is within the poll's overall margin of error of plus-or-minus 3 percentage points.

The survey by telephone of 1,246 registered voters over the weekend, released Tuesday, adds to an unsettled pattern also reflected in other most recent polls.

Obama, for example, leads McCain in two of them ? by 10 points in an AP-Ipsos poll and 12 points in a New York Times-CBS News poll. McCain leads Obama by 1 point in the USA Today-Gallup poll.

Clinton's experience is even more jumbled. McCain led Clinton by 4 points in the USA Today-Gallup poll. Clinton led by 5 points in the AP-Ipsos poll. And they were tied in the New York Times-CBS poll.

The most important finding in the Los Angeles Times-Bloomberg poll might be McCain's high marks for his ability to handle both Iraq and terrorism better than Obama and Clinton. Those are signature issues for Republicans, but also key attack issues for the Democrats, who oppose the Bush administration's handling of the war and terrorism.

On the other key issue ? handling the economy ? the poll found Clinton ranked higher than McCain, but McCain actually ranked better than Obama.

Meanwhile, Obama continues to broaden his support among Democratic voters, the poll found, moving ahead of Clinton in the most recent poll after trailing her by 9 points in last month's Los Angles Times-Bloomberg poll.

Obama now leads Clinton 48 percent to 42 percent, which falls within the plus-or-minus 5-point margin of error in the survey of Democratic voters, but still shows significant progress for him.

Along with that lead, the poll found voters in both parties say Obama would be a stronger Democratic candidate than Clinton in the general election, a trend also found in other recent polls.

 
 
 
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