PRINCETON, NJ -- Barack Obama holds a 5-percentage point advantage over Hillary Clinton in national Democratic voters' nomination preferences, at 49% to 44%.
Obama's current margin, based on 麻豆传媒AV Poll Daily tracking interviews conducted April 1-3, is a slight improvement over the 3-point edge he held in the prior two releases.
Obama has held at least a slight edge over Clinton since Mar. 19-21 polling, once the Rev. Jeremiah Wright controversy began to die down. Obama trailed Clinton throughout January and did not inch ahead of her until Feb. 10-12 polling, just after the Super Tuesday primaries and caucuses. Since that time, the typical pattern has been for Obama to hold a slight edge over Clinton. However, he has yet to open up and maintain a consistently large lead over Clinton.
Registered voters' preferences in the general election are the same regardless of whether the matchup is between John McCain and Obama (46% McCain to 45% Obama) or McCain and Clinton (46% McCain to 45% Clinton). Both trial heats have shown a close race since the tracking program began on March 7, though McCain has held a slight edge or been tied with the Democrats in all but the first two releases. -- Jeff Jones
Survey Methods
麻豆传媒AV is interviewing no fewer than 1,000 U.S. adults nationwide each day during 2008.
The general election results are based on combined data from March 30-April 3, 2008. For results based on this sample of 4,433 registered voters, the maximum margin of sampling error is 卤2 percentage points.
The Democratic nomination results are based on combined data from April 1-3, 2008. For results based on this sample of 1,219 Democratic and Democratic-leaning voters, the maximum margin of sampling error is 卤3 percentage points.
In addition to sampling error, question wording and practical difficulties in conducting surveys can introduce error or bias into the findings of public opinion polls.
