Voters in Pennsylvania may not be bitter, but they’re also not liking Hillary Clinton much anymore:
WITH THE Pennsylvania primary six days away, U.S. Sen. Barack Obama has moved within striking distance of rival U.S. Sen. Hillary Clinton, according to a new Daily News/Franklin & Marshall Poll.
Clinton clung to a lead of 46 percent to 40 percent for Obama among likely Democratic voters, with 14 percent undecided. In March, Clinton led 51 percent to 35 percent.
But experts said that the survey may not fully show the impact of Obama’s statements last week that small-town Americans are “bitter” over their economic status and “cling to guns or religion.”
“It’s too soon — you’d have to see polls taken Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday,” said political consultant Neil Oxman. “It’s clear [internal] polling in both campaigns show an uptick in support for her and a downtick for him.”
Clinton is now running a television ad attacking the remarks, which Obama made last week at a San Francisco fundraiser.
Franklin & Marshall pollster G. Terry Madonna agreed that the “bitter” fallout may still be shaping the race.
“The question is if [Clinton] has stopped Obama’s surge permanently,” said Madonna. “With the new commercial and the San Francisco statements, can she push the lead back to double digits?”
This poll is consistent with another poll released late yesterday from the LA Times:
WASHINGTON — With three crucial Democratic primaries looming, Hillary Rodham Clinton may not be headed toward the blockbuster victories she needs to jump-start her presidential bid — even in Pennsylvania, the state that was supposed to be her ace in the hole, a new Los Angeles Times/Bloomberg poll has found.
The survey found the New York senator leading Barack Obama by 5 percentage points in Pennsylvania, which votes next Tuesday. Such a margin would not give her much of a boost in the battle for the party’s nomination.
And she’s not doing well at all in Indiana and North Carolina, which vote two weeks after the Keystone State:
[T]he poll found Clinton trailed Obama by 5 percentage points in Indiana, another Rust Belt state that should play to her strengths among blue-collar voters.
In North Carolina, an Obama stronghold, he is running 13 percentage points ahead.
The race remains volatile, however, because many likely voters in the Democratic primaries are still undecided — 12% in Pennsylvania, 19% in Indiana and 17% in North Carolina.
Absent a big win in Pennsylvania, Clinton’s campaign looks more and more tenuous.
