Just one day before Saturday’s Democratic caucus in Nevada, the latest poll shows Hillary Clinton leading her main rival, Barack Obama, by 5 percentage points.
The same Reuters/C-Span/Zogby poll put Republican presidential candidate John McCain 7 points ahead of his nearest rival, Mike Huckabee, in the lead up to the GOP primary in South Carolina on Saturday.
In the poll of 814 likely Democratic caucusgoers in Nevada, Senator Clinton of New York registered 42% support, compared to Senator Barack Obama of Illinois’ 37% and former North Carolina Senator John Edwards’ 12%.
Since her surprise victory in New Hampshire on January 8, Senator Clinton has reclaimed her political base and stemmed the flow of supporters to the Obama camp. Her strongest supporters remain women, white voters, Hispanics, unionists, moderates and older voters. Senator Obama has maintained his strong appeal to African-American and younger voters.
"This is a very competitive race, but it will depend on organization," said pollster John Zogby. "This is a caucus without much history to go on, so we have to see who can do the best job of turning out their vote."
In South Carolina, the survey of 815 likely Republican primary voters showed 29% support for Senator John McCain of Arizona, followed by former Arkansas governor Mike Huckabee at 22%.
Former Massachusetts governor Mitt Romney tallied 15% support, which includes a three-point ‘bounce’ from his primary victory on Tuesday in his native Michigan. In fourth place is former Tennessee Senator Fred Thompson, who at 12% was the only other GOP candidate who registered in the double-digits.
The poll confirmed that Senator McCain continues to draw strong support from an eclectic base of independents, Republicans, Democrats, liberals, moderates and older voters. Mr Huckabee, a former Baptist preacher, remains popular with evangelical Christians and staunch social conservatives.
Both polls had a margin of error of 3.4 percentage points.
