Rasmussen: Obama, Clinton Tied at 32% with Edwards at 17%

[flpoljunkie]

2008 Democratic Presidential Primary

Obama, Clinton Tied

April 23, 2007

For the fourth straight week, Illinois Senator Barack Obama (D) has gained ground and he has finally caught New York Senator Hillary Clinton in the race for the Democratic Presidential nomination. It’s now Obama 32% Clinton 32% and former North Carolina Senator John Edwards holding steady at 17%. New Mexico Governor Bill Richardson is a distant fourth at 3%. Senators Chris Dodd and Joe Biden each attract 1% support. So does General Wesley Clark.

Obama has been steadily gaining ground during April. Last week, Clinton had a two-point lead. Two weeks ago, it was Clinton by five. The week before that, the former First Lady was up by seven. Our last release in March found Clinton enjoying a double digit lead. Clinton now holds a narrow edge among white voters while Obama leads by 16% among African-Americans.

A separate survey showed that Obama has the highest level of core support among all Presidential candidates—33% of voters say they’d definitely vote for him if he’s on the ballot in November 2008.

Rasmussen Reports releases national polling data on the Democratic nomination process every Monday and on the Republican race each Tuesday. The current survey of 579 Likely Democratic Primary Voters was conducted April 16-19, 2007. The margin of sampling error is +/-4 percentage points with a 95% level of confidence.

http://www.rasmussenreports.com/Political%20Tracking/Democratic%20Primaries/DemocraticPresidentialPrimary.htm

[saltpoint]

1. On the basis of these data presented, I confidently predict our nominee will be

Mike Gravel.
________________
Rasmussen did ok in the 06 election, better than I expected. I suspect they're on target with this surge for Obama, too. A lot of cups of coffee between now and mid-January 08 though. The most provocative conclusion from this poll is that the snapshot shows no inevitable nominee, no landslide favorite. It's a wide-open race in a wide open year.

[bigdarryl]

2. Well according to a poll this past weekend Hillary was beating Obama 41 to 22 so....

which poll do you believe. there are so many differant poll numbers out there its nauseating.i still say Edwards is the one to watch. he is where he needs to be with 10 months to go before the first primary. the problem with Obama and Hillary way out front this early is they might be peaking to soon.

[papau]

11. I agree re Edwards - his willingness to take a specific position is not found in Obama or Clinton -

and there are indeed many polls to come between now and the end of the race.

Since the "polling question" and the prep spoken before the polling question bias results, I am curious as to Ras's script - not just the question - as the Clinton/Obama spread has been carved in stone for a few weeks now - with Clinton running between 35% to 37% and Obama between 26% and 30%.

[Burma Jones]

3. Well, I like Richardson

I guess he's doomed......not enough money and charm.

[bigdarryl]

4. thats who i am leaning toward. i am a little upset that there isn't more Governors in this race

[saltpoint]

5. My 2 cents is that Richardson's numbers will rise -- slowly and surely.

If you were hiring someone to run your company, Richardson's resume would make your shortlist in no time flat.

I more than half expect he'll be on our ticket in 2008 or in a high-ranking Cabinet position in any case. he has way too many gifts to be ignored, and the party would be foolish not to tap them.

[bigdarryl]

7. he's already said he will not give up the Governorship for Vice President or any other cabinet post

[saltpoint]

8. True. But politicians have been known to change their minds.

Had he said 'yes' to those questions, it would have undermined the seriousness he'd want reporters to hold for his candidacy.

[Burma Jones]

13. I would hope so......If this contest is more of a Marathon than a sprint

but the realignment of Primaries really work against the candidates that haven't raised a lot of cash.

[saltpoint]

14. Agree that the slap-dash scheduling and front-piling of primaries

is not good, but not only because of fundraising.

There's a lot not to like about the stampeded to be most important.

[flpoljunkie]

6. Richardson has a chance to sell himself at the debate Thursday night to be aired on MSNBC, 7PM

Brian Williams will moderate. I see that Tweety, in parternship with politico.com, will be moderating the Republican debate on May 3rd at the Reagan library.

http://www.mediabistro.com/fishbowlDC/events/msnbc_confirms_candidates_for_426_debate_57231.asp

Tuesday, Apr 17
MSNBC Confirms Candidates For 4/26 Debate
From the release:

As the network announced in January, MSNBC will telecast the first debates of the 2008 presidential campaign season. "NBC Nightly News" Anchor and Managing Editor Brian Williams will moderate the South Carolina Democratic Party's debate on April 26th. MSNBC Election Anchor Chris Matthews will moderate the Reagan Library's GOP debate on May 3rd, in partnership with politico.com.

The South Carolina Democratic Party has announced that Joe Biden, Hillary Clinton, Chris Dodd, John Edwards, Mike Gravel, Dennis Kucinich, Barack Obama, and Bill Richardson are all confirmed to participate in the debate on April 26th. The debate will take place at South Carolina State University in Orangeburg, South Carolina, and will air live on MSNBC from 7:00 to 8:30 pm (ET) and stream live on MSNBC.com. South Carolina NBC affiliates, WIS-TV in Columbia, WYFF-TV in Greenville and WCBD-TV in Charleston, will join MSNBC in airing the debate.

The Ronald Reagan Library announced that Sam Brownback, Jim Gilmore, Rudy Giuliani, Mike Huckabee, Duncan Hunter, John McCain, Mitt Romney, Ron Paul, Tom Tancredo and Tommy Thompson are all confirmed to attend the Library's debate on May 3rd. The debate will take place at the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library in Simi Valley, California, and will air live on MSNBC from 8:00 to 9:30 pm (ET) and stream live on MSNBC.com and politico.com and will include audience questions gathered on politico.com.

[BlueManDude]

9. I think it's more an anti-Clinton thing than anything

[saltpoint]

10. Possibly some of it, but Senator Obama drew 10,000 people to an Iowa

event this past week.

That's a lot of folks.

[mtnsnake]

12. This is great news for Obama and not bad for Hillary either!

Wow, this is going to be a great race. Competition will bring out the best in them. We'll see what they're made of now.