Posted on 02/05/2008 5:20:05 AM PST by kellynla
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Democratic presidential hopeful Barack Obama surged to a big lead over Hillary Clinton in California hours before "Super Tuesday" voting began in 24 states, according to a Reuters/C-SPAN/Zogby poll released on Tuesday.
In the Republican race, former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney held a 7-point advantage on Arizona Sen. John McCain in California, while McCain added to commanding double-digit leads in New York and New Jersey.
On a sprawling day of coast-to-coast voting, the biggest ever in a U.S. primary race, the U.S. presidential contenders in both parties were fighting to win a huge cache of delegates to this summer's nominating conventions.
In California, which alone provides more than one-fifth of the Democratic delegates needed for the nomination, Obama led Clinton by 49 percent to 36 percent, the poll found. The margin of error was 3.3 percentage points.
Clinton pulled into a 5-point lead in New Jersey, 46 percent to 41 percent, after being tied on Monday. Obama held a 45 percent to 42 percent edge on Clinton in Missouri. Both polls had a margin of error of 3.4 percentage points.
Obama had a 20-point edge in Georgia, aided by a more than 3-to-1 lead among black voters.
Obama, an Illinois senator, and Clinton, a New York senator, are in a hard-fought battle for the Democratic presidential nomination and split the first four significant contests.
"There is clear Obama momentum in California," pollster John Zogby said. "But in New Jersey, things seemed to swing in favor of Clinton, and Missouri was very mixed."
In the Republican race, Romney maintained a stable 40 percent to 33 percent lead on McCain in California, fueled by heavy support in the southern part of the state and among self-described conservatives. The margin of error was 3.4 percentage points.
DASH TO CALIFORNIA
Both Romney and McCain made last-minute changes to their campaign schedules to fly to California for late appearances. A Romney win there could be his last hope of blunting McCain's growing momentum in other states.
McCain held a 26-point edge on Romney in New York and a 29-point advantage in New Jersey as he pushed for a convincing triumph that could knock Romney out of the race to be the Republican candidate in November's presidential election.
McCain held a narrow 34 percent to 27 percent lead over former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee in Missouri, with Romney running third at 25 percent. The margin of error was 3.4 percentage points.
"It looks like a big day for McCain with Romney making a last stand in California," Zogby said.
The two launched hard-hitting attack ads on Monday questioning each other's conservative credentials before the vote.
McCain won the last two contests, in South Carolina and Florida, to seize the front-runner's slot in a hard-fought Republican race despite qualms among some conservatives about his views on taxes, immigration and campaign finance.
More than half of the total Democratic delegates and about 40 percent of the Republican delegates are up for grabs on Tuesday.
The Reuters/C-SPAN/Zogby rolling tracking poll surveyed presidential races in both parties in California, New Jersey and Missouri. The polls also looked at the Republican race in New York and the Democratic race in Georgia.
The rolling polls were taken Saturday through Monday, except for the California survey, which was a two-day poll on Sunday and Monday. In a rolling poll, the most recent day's results are added while the oldest day's results are dropped in order to track changing momentum.
ping
As much as I would like to believe both of those polls, I am not sure I can because of how inconsistent they are with others.
We shall see tonight.
You got it — today is going to be a long day, especially for those of us on the east coast trying to watch until polls close on the west coast.
Her only hope was for a quick knockout, but since she is now going past 'super-Tuesday' she is playing into Obama's strength.
She can't win a war of attrition, the Democrats don't want her!
Polls are like Superbowl ads.
All of these guys are just trying to make the biggest, most outrageous, splash to get into the headlines. Make the numbers big in one way or another and your polling outfit is in all the papers. If you are wrong, just chalk it up to the “unpredictability of statistics”.
None of these polls are remotely consistent with each other, and honestly some of them are just trying to sway people.
>In the Republican race, Romney maintained a stable 40 percent to 33 percent lead on McCain in California, fueled by heavy support in the southern part of the state and among self-described conservatives. The margin of error was 3.4 percentage points.
Romney up by 7 points over McCain. Huck is getting zero support from California or the east coast. His only hope is to win in a tight contest in SOME southern states.
If Romney wins California, he continues to move on. If Huck stays in AFTER getting almost no traction, then start to wonder who much McCain is paying him. And consider Huck’s honesty with his supporters as to what he is trying to do.
This means we should soon see H*****y unleash the dirt on Oh Black Obama that she's been saving up for just such an eventuality. Better put popcorn on the shopping list!
>This means we should soon see H*****y unleash the dirt on Oh Black Obama
Where have you been?
I bet he is really nervous now. lol. Why on Earth would McCain say that he was nervous to the whole world????
Well, Mr. Pomposity McCain was running around this morning spreading more lies “It’s only competitive in California because Romney has run 10 million dollars worth of attack ads.” TRUTH: not one attack ad, all positive, and only 1.5 million dollars.. Oh well, it’s just truth.
We’re talking double secret dirt here, not just the run of the mill stuff like drug dealing and shady real estate deals.
We’re talking SEX SCANDALS!!
This is one poll that I pray is right.
As usual, McCain continues to say anything to get the nomination.
I expressed scepticism at CA poll numbers yesterday but now it is clear that Mitt has the momentum and that McCain is in trouble there. It seems Schwartzenegger has jumped the shark with his endorsement.
Sex scandals are sooooo last century!..................
I'm melting!................oh, what a world, what a world!......
1)McCain Fiengold - Free speech attacked
2)McCain Kennedy - Amnesty
3)Keating Five - Will be raised during the election
4)Gang of 14 - Will we get conservative judges?
5)Under handed use of the term “time tables”
6)Lead for patriotism over profit
I hope these pols are correct...
His wife endorsing Obama didn’t help Schwarz-man either.
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