Posted on 01/30/2007 5:41:01 AM PST by areafiftyone
COLUMBUS, Ohio - Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton holds a strong lead over other Democratic presidential contenders in a new poll of voters in Ohio, the closely divided swing state that tipped the 2004 election for President Bush.
Former New York Mayor Rudy Guiliani, who appeared in TV ads and at fundraisers during last year's gubernatorial race, is the favorite among the state's Republican voters, according to a Quinnipiac University poll released Tuesday. He is favored by 30 percent of voters surveyed compared to 22 percent for Sen. John McCain, 11 percent for former House Speaker Newt Gingrich and 4 percent for former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney.
Among Ohio Democrats, 38 percent pick Clinton, 13 percent pick Sen. Barack Obama, 11 percent pick former vice presidential candidate John Edwards, and 6 percent would vote for former Vice President Al Gore. Ohio's own Rep. Dennis Kucinich gets just 2 percent of the vote, or less than the survey's margin of error.
"Those who say Sen. Hillary Clinton can't win the White House because she can't win a key swing state like Ohio might rethink their assumption," said Peter Brown, assistant director of the Quinnipiac University Polling Institute.
The institute polled 1,305 registered Ohio voters by phone from last Tuesday to Sunday. The results have a margin of error of plus or minus 3 percentage points. When results are broken down by party, the margin of error rises to plus or minus 4 percentage points for Democrats, and plus or minus 5 percentage points for Republicans.
Though she holds a strong early lead within her own party, Clinton also faces the strongest bloc of voters among the early contenders - 38 percent - who dislike her, perhaps explaining why she did not beat the poll's margin of error in any of the head-to-head match-ups tested.
The survey found hypothetical contests between Clinton and Guiliani, Clinton and McCain, Obama and McCain, and Edwards and McCain all within the margin of error.
"Given their stronger overall image, Mayor Guiliani and Sen. McCain would seem to have the potential to improve their standing," Brown said. "That might be much more difficult for Sen. Clinton because of the larger number of voters who don't like her."
The poll also found that 60 percent of Ohio voters oppose Bush's plan to send 22,000 additional troops into Iraq. Fifty-six percent say going to war in Iraq was wrong, and 65 percent dislike Bush's handling of the situation.
You are right on the money - the vast majority sit and watch and act merely as "Monday morning quarterbacks".
Being negative is like frowning - it's easy because it takes less muscle than smiling - know what I mean?
Nice to see you're a player.
I know many conservatives who will be voting for him. But why am I preaching to the choir? LOL!
This is the most important line in the story. The ONLY way that Hillary can win is if conservatives split the vote by nominating a RINO Republican and a conservative 3rd party candidate is forced to run. Hillary's negatives are so high that we can take our pick of nominees. Her husband never got a majority of the vote and neither will she.
On the other hand if it is so important for you to have a Republican in the WH, I say we just convince Hillary to change her party affiliation and nominate her. Republicans don't care about the positions of their candidates and Democrats don't care about the honesty of their's. Everyone will be happy. You will have your Republican and the Dems will get their policies enacted.
Good Morning Gulf Breeze! Glad to see you on here. You are one of the few Duncan Hunter fans who are pleasant to talk to. I'm glad you are sticking with Duncan Hunter and you should. He's a good man in many ways and if he wins the primary - he will get my vote. He's doing pretty well so far. I have this feeling he might even surpass McCain. I heard McCain is not doing too well.
Let me tell you something that maybe you didn't notice on these threads - the ones who say they would rather vote for HILLARY are NOT the Rudy fans - they are the Rudy haters. That shows where their loyalty really is. The Rudy fans will vote for the Republican who wins - the Rudy haters will stay home and/or vote for Hillary if their guy doesn't win. What does that say about them? Traitors may be a strong word or it might not. Think about it!
We do? Funny, I don't remember anybody asking me or my husband.
Good observation and analogy.
One thing to always consider - many of these people run for President for reasons far less noble than actually being President.
-- They raise lots of money - don't spend it all - and keep it.
-- They face other campaigns down the road (House, Senate, et.) and want to raise their exposure.
-- Simple resume padding for the "speakers tour" - i.e. higher fees.
Running for President is easy - being serious is not.
Is it love?
WOW. The MSM is really pushing for Guiliani.
Well Rudy McRomney will split the rino vote making room for a real conservative.
Duncan Hunter in '08.
No - just P_nis envy.
LOL! You bad!
Do whatever you want, but the bald fact remains that Guiliani is the front-runner among the MAJORITY of Republicans.
And no, I do not believe that Free Republic reflects the majority of Republicans.
Notice I didn't say which had the envy of the other...
OR to get a VP slot
After voting I was left with this question:
I wonder why so many non-members are supporting Newt?
Then I realized that they are likely dem's that would love to see Newt's campaign get off the ground, knowing that he would be toast in the general election.
Its beginning to look like us conservatives are doomed.....We're Damned with Hillary and Damned with Rudy......
This is just another symptom of the liberalization of America.....look at the EU and Canada et el and see where we are headed.
May God Have Mercy upon America.
Keep in mind - for the next 18 months many people voice their choice by "who they like" - it's not until the final 6 months that polls begin to reflect - "who can win" and "who will get my vote".
Polls right now are pretty meaningless - just indicators.
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