News & Observer | newsobserver.com | McCain has edge in GOP, polls say

Published: Feb 03, 2008 12:30 AM
Modified: Feb 03, 2008 06:58 AM

McCain has edge in GOP, polls say

 

Story Tools

ROMNEY WINS MAINE

Mitt Romney coasted to a win in presidential preference voting by Maine Republicans on Saturday, claiming his third victory in a caucus state and fourth overall. He had 52 percent of the vote with 68 percent of the towns holding caucuses reporting.

John McCain trailed with 21 percent, Ron Paul was third with 19 percent, and Mike Huckabee had 6 percent. Undecided votes accounted for 2 percent. The nonbinding votes are the first step to electing 18 Maine delegates to the Republican National Convention.

DEMOCRATIC RACES

ARIZONA

Clinton, 43 percent

Obama, 41 percent

undecided, 13 percent

CALIFORNIA

Clinton, 45 percent

Obama, 36 percent

undecided, 16 percent

GEORGIA

Obama, 47 percent

Clinton, 41 percent

undecided, 10 percent

MISSOURI

Clinton, 47 percent

Obama, 41 percent

undecided, 10 percent

NEW JERSEY

Clinton, 46 percent

Obama, 39 percent

undecided, 12 percent

ABOUT THE POLLS

The McClatchy-MSNBC polls of 400 likely Democratic and Republican primary voters each in California, Georgia, Missouri and New Jersey -- and 400 likely Democratic primary voters in Arizona -- was conducted by telephone Jan. 30-Feb. 1. The margin of error was plus or minus five percentage points.

REPUBLICAN RACES

CALIFORNIA

McCain, 40 percent

Romney, 31 percent

Huckabee, 13 percent

Ron Paul, 3 percent

undecided, 11 percent

GEORGIA

McCain, 33 percent

Romney, 27 percent

Huckabee, 18 percent

Paul, 4 percent

undecided, 17 percent

MISSOURI

McCain, 37 percent

Huckabee, 27 percent

Romney, 24 percent

Paul, 1 percent

undecided, 11 percent

NEW JERSEY

McCain, 46 percent

Romney, 31 percent

Huckabee, 5 percent

Paul, 4 percent

undecided, 12 percent

Advertisements
Republican John McCain leads in all four corners of the country heading into a rush of primaries Tuesday, while Democrats Hillary Rodham Clinton and Barack Obama were locked in a close struggle for delegates coast to coast, according to a new series of McClatchy-MSNBC polls.

With many Republican contests winner-take-all delegate bonanzas, the surveys suggest that McCain could emerge with a commanding lead for the Republican nomination.

The regional taste of the 22 Democratic contests suggests that Clinton and Obama will carve up the country, each emerging with a big block of delegates and the nomination far from clear.

And in each of these regional bellwether states, at least 10 percent of Democratic voters remained undecided.

"For the Republicans, McCain is clearly the front-runner. He's ahead in every state," said Brad Coker, the managing partner of Mason-Dixon Polling & Research, which conducted the nine polls.

"For the Democrats, [Clinton's] ahead everywhere except Georgia. But the leads aren't so big that it's a slam-dunk."

Indeed, as primaries have shown throughout this volatile year, the actual vote can differ greatly from polls as voters change their minds or surge to the vote in numbers that overwhelm expectations.

All rights reserved. This copyrighted material may not be published, broadcast or redistributed in any manner.
No comments have been posted for this story. Log in to be the first to comment.


The News & Observer is pleased to be able to offer its users the opportunity to make comments and hold conversations online. However, the interactive nature of the internet makes it impracticable for our staff to monitor each and every posting.

Since The News & Observer does not control user submitted statements, we cannot promise that readers will not occasionally find offensive or inaccurate comments posted on our website. In addition, we remind anyone interested in making an online comment that responsibility for statements posted lies with the person submitting the comment, not The News and Observer.

If you find a comment offensive, clicking on the exclamation icon will flag the comment for review by the administrators, we are counting on the good judgment of all our readers to help us.

Hosting Partners of
newsobserver.com

A subsidiary of The McClatchy Company