Barack Obama has gained strength in prospective general election match-ups against Republicans John McCain and Mike Huckabee, while Hillary Clinton does not fare as well, a new nationwide Zogby Interactive poll shows.
The online survey shows that Obama would defeat both McCain and Huckabee, while Clinton would lose to McCain and only defeat Huckabee by a small margin.
Clinton struggles among political independents, trailing McCain by a wide margin and Huckabee by a slim margin in that demographic, the survey shows. Against both men, she wins less than 80% of her own party. However, she does better among Democrats than either McCain or Huckabee does among Republicans. Huckabee wins just 70% support in a match-up against Clinton, while McCain wins 72% of the GOP support against her.
Obama has much stronger Democratic Party support, winning 87% backing of the Democrats when pitted against Huckabee, and 84% of the Democratic support against McCain. Among independents, Obama leads McCain by a 46% to 33% edge and Huckabee by a 48% to 31% advantage.
Among men, Obama narrowly loses to McCain but narrowly leads Huckabee. Among women, he leads both Republicans by margins that are wider than the advantage Clinton enjoys over McCain and Huckabee. However, Clinton loses to both McCain and Huckabee among men.
Obama held wides leads over the GOPers among younger voters. Among older voters, Obama held a narrow lead over Huckabee, but trailed McCain. Clinton led Huckabee and McCain among younger voters, but trailed them both among voters age 65 and older.
The online survey included 7,468 likely voters nationwide. It was conducted Feb. 8-11, 2008, and carries a margin of error of +/- 1.2 percentage points.