Hillary Clinton loses traction over Barack Obama in Pennsylvania, Indiana (LA Times/Bloomberg Poll)

[MarkInLA]

Her formerly double-digit lead is now just a 5-point margin in Pennsylvania, a survey finds. The reduced margin makes a win for her there less significant. She trails Obama among Hoosiers.

WASHINGTON -- With three crucial Democratic primaries looming, Hillary Rodham Clinton may not be headed toward the blockbuster victories she needs to jump-start her presidential bid -- even in Pennsylvania, the state that was supposed to be her ace in the hole, a new Los Angeles Times/Bloomberg poll has found.

The survey found the New York senator leading Barack Obama by 5 percentage points in Pennsylvania, which votes next Tuesday. Such a margin would not give her much of a boost in the battle for the party's nomination.

What is more, the poll found Clinton trailed Obama by 5 percentage points in Indiana, another Rust Belt state that should play to her strengths among blue-collar voters.

http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/politics/la-na-poll16apr16,0,4641941.story?track=mostviewed-storylevel

[Zachstar]

1. And there is still time before the Primary!

So there is time for Obama to solidify this margin! He keeps it under 5 and he may walk away with more delegates!

[MarkInLA]

2. I would love it if next Tuesday marked the end of the "Clinton era" (n/t)

[apocalypsehow]

12. Me and you both.

Time for HRC to do the right thing, end her campaign, and get on board with the Democratic nominee so we can beat McCain in November.

[lojasmo]

14. And me. EOM

[Eurobabe]

3. GOBAMA!!!

:woohoo:

Bring it home Baby!

[ClayZ]

4. K and R

Yes We Can

[C_U_L8R]

5. Snatching defeat from the jaws of victory

Hillary's got quite a knack for it

[Voice for Peace]

6. Thanks, Mark. Happy news!

[H2O Man]

7. Very good.

Nominated.

[MagickMuffin]

8. The Bitter Truth, Obama is surging

I had a feeling this would happen. Even with this latest gaff, Barack bounces up in the polls.

Of course if Hillary wins by a small margin, she will claim it was a big defeat, just like she did here in Texas, however, she really didn't win that large of a margin here.

[InfiniteNether]

9. This is good news for Hillary!

[PoliticalAmazon]

10. LATimes polls are more credible because of the info they provide...

...about the structure of the poll and how the poll was conducted.

Polls are REALLY easy to rig, in subtle ways, to produce the result you want. Most polls don't provide the information you need to assess whether the poll is valid or not. Indeed, some polling groups (Zobgy, for instance) get downright pissy when you ask!

These polling groups have a tremendous amount of power over United States' elections and, therefore, over the course and future of America.

Humans are herd animals (it's part of our survival mechanism) and, especially the "mush middle" in politics, are easily swayed by polls. If polls consistently say that Candidate A is doing better than Candidate B, voters will tend to move towards Candidate A because, if the rest of the herd is doing it, it is probably the right thing to do.

Again, this is a survival mechanism. For instance, if you hear someone shout "fire" in a theater and see everyone else rush for the doors, even if you have no objective evidence that there is, indeed, a fire going on, you will most likely join the rush for the doors.

Anyway, the LATimes polls are very good.

For more information on how you can assess a poll for validity, visit:

http://www.ncpp.org/?q=node/4
20 Questions A Journalist Should Ask About Poll Results
(National Council on Public Polls)

[MarkInLA]

11. My mother's lame theory...

I just spoke with my mother - she's a Hillary supporter. She believes that Bill and Hill are sabotaging their own campaign so that they have an "excuse" when they lose.

Uh...I think not.

[Arkansas Granny]

13. It just depends which poll you are looking at. Some have her ahead by 9 - 14 points.

:shrug:

http://www.realclearpolitics.com/epolls/2008/president/pa/pennsylvania_democratic_primary-240.html

[kwenu]

15. The Force is strong with that one. No matter what they do, the Mo' always returns to Obama.

"They won't vote for a Black candidate.","He's a muslim", Rezco, "Only Blacks vote for him.", "He's only supported by latte liberals.", Wright, "He's unvetted.", "He only wins small states.", "He's elitist."

He is unstoppable.

The more he is attacked the stronger he becomes. :kick:


:patriot:

[Leopolds Ghost]

16. You can't win, Hillary. If you strike me down in Pennsylvania, I shall become more powerful...

[Adelante]

17. Interesting stuff

One reason Clinton is struggling in Indiana and North Carolina is that women -- a mainstay of her coalition in earlier contests -- have been defecting. In Indiana, the poll found women split their vote, 35% for each candidate. In North Carolina, they favored Obama, 43% to 36%.

-snip

Clinton also suffers from being seen as less admirable than Obama. Even in Pennsylvania, 47% of Democrats said he had more honesty and integrity, compared with 26% who thought that of Clinton.

"She doesn't tell the truth a lot," said Brannon Crace, a store manager in Frankfurt, Ind. "We've already been through the Clinton era."

In all three states, Clinton was seen as better-equipped to handle trade and healthcare policy. But she does not appear to have been as persuasive in making a core argument of her campaign: that she would be better-prepared to lead the nation's military and foreign policy.

Asked who would be better as commander in chief, voters in North Carolina chose Obama, 45% to 28%; in Indiana, Obama was chosen 37% to 29%. Only in Pennsylvania did voters prefer Clinton as commander in chief, 44% to 39%.

[truebrit71]

18. "We've already been through the Clinton era." Amen to that...we need CHANGE.

...