Edwards & Obama Ahead of All Republican Candidates in Early Polls
Hillary Clinton is weakest Democratic candidate at this time….
The Rasmussen Polling organization has completed a complete cross tabulation of “2008 Election Results” between the leading candidates in both parties. The results are startling!
- John Edwards has an impressive lead outdistancing any Republican opponent by seven points or more!
- Barack Obama also leads handily against all the leading Republican candidates.
- Hillary Clinton is either tied or has small leads over the Republican opposition but her numbers suggest there are significant numbers of anti-Clinton voters.
John Edwards’ numbers from Rasmussen are quite impressive. The cross tabulation puts Edwards seven points ahead of Rudi Guiliani; eleven points ahead of Fred Thompson and far far ahead of Mitt Romney (17 pts). The numbers suggest that voters would still prefer a white male as the Democratic standard bearer. But the central message is that John Edwards, who is currently lagging in the Democratic preference polling, would be the strongest national candidate next year! His recent campaign on Poverty in America is obviously resonating with the voters.
Barack Obama also leads over all the potential Republicans as well. The polls suggest Barack would beat Guiliani by six points; Thompson by six points and Romney by nine points. These are all respectable leads this early in the polling season.
Hillary Clinton, the current front runner in the Democratic sweepstakes is also the weakest national candidate. The numbers suggest that there is a core of likely voters that actively dislike her. The polls show her tied with Fred Thompson and ahead of Guiliani by only a point. She does a little better against Romney but still has only a small lead over him (4 points).
Turning this all around, the data suggests that Guiliani or Thompson would be the “strongest” opponents. Mitt Romney is the weakest of these three. We have not bothered to show the data regarding McCain, Brownback or Gingrich as all three of these candidates are far in the rear. For example, John McCain would be eleven points behind Hillary, seven points behind Edwards or nine points behind Obama. This assumes, of course, that he can get over the fact that most of the Republican party hates him.
For a closer look at the polling results, click this link to Rasmussen Polls.