WASHINGTON -- Hillary Rodham Clinton is running slightly ahead of Barack Obama in the Democratic presidential primary race in Indiana, a new survey shows.

The Suffolk University poll found Clinton leading Obama by 6 points, 49 percent to 43 percent, with 6 percent of respondents undecided.

Despite trailing Clinton, Obama was more popular, with 58 percent of respondents giving him a favorable rating compared with Clinton's 53 percent.

The poll by Boston-based Suffolk University was conducted by telephone Saturday and Sunday. It involved interviews with 600 likely Democratic voters in Indiana. The margin of sampling error was plus or minus 4 percentage points.

Registration soars across country

Voter excitement is pushing registration through the roof so far this year -- with more than 3.5 million people rushing to join in the historic balloting, according to an Associated Press survey that offers the first national snapshot.

Figures are up for blacks, women and young people. Rural and city. South and North.

Overall, the AP found that nearly one in 65 adult Americans signed up to vote in just the first three months of the year.

And in the 21 states that were able to provide comparable data, new registrations have soared about 64 percent from the same three months in the 2004 campaign.

McCain: GOP turns off Hispanics

PHOENIX -- Republican John McCain said Monday the focus on illegal immigration during the Republican primary race harmed his party's image among Hispanics.

Speaking to reporters at a news conference on Cinco de Mayo, McCain said Hispanic citizens want America's borders secured and illegal immigrants to be treated humanely.