 Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama |
The bottom has dropped out for Democratic presidential hopeful Barack Obama with a new Gallup daily tracking poll showing him trailing both Hillary Clinton and GOP hopeful John McCain one day after the Illinois senator’s refusal to condemn his longtime pastor who suggested the U.S. launched AIDS to decimate blacks.
The new results from Gallup show Clinton with a 49 percent to 42 percent lead over Obama in a national Democratic voters’ presidential nomination preference tally.
“This is the first time Clinton has held a statistically significant lead in over a month,” the Gallup report said. “She last led Obama in Feb. 7-9 polling, just after the Super Tuesday primaries. Since then, the two candidates have usually been in a statistical tie, but Obama has held a lead in several of the polls, most recently in March 11-13 polling.”
Gallup noted the “plague” of controversies that has hit Obama in recent days, mostly connected to the statements of Rev. Jeremiah Wright Jr., pastor of the senator’s home congregation, Trinity United Church of Christ in Chicago.
“Obama delivered a major speech on race Tuesday to try to move beyond the controversy,” the Gallup report said. “The initial indications are that the speech has not halted Clinton’s gaining momentum, as she led by a similar margin in Tuesday night’s polling as compared to Monday night’s polling.”
The report also said McCain, R-Ariz., and the presumptive GOP nominee, “may be benefiting in the short-term from the highly charged Democratic race.”
The report said McCain leads Obama 47 percent to 43 percent in registered voters’ preferences for the general presidential election.
“This is the first time any of the candidates has held a statistically significant lead since Gallup Poll Daily tracking began reporting on the general election race last week,” the report said.
“McCain’s 48 percent to 45 percent advantage over Clinton is not statistically significant, but it is the first time he has had an edge over her in Gallup Poll Daily tracking,” the report said.
Gallup is interviewing no fewer than 1,000 U.S. adults nationwide every day, and the general election results are based on responses from March 14-18, which included interviews with 4,376 voters. That leaves a margin of error of plus or minus two percentage points.
The Democratic results are based on 1,209 interviews from March 16-18, with a margin of error of plus or minus three percentage points.
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