Poll: GOP Has Edge in 2008 Prez Race

The 2008 race for the White House is looking good for the GOP.

That's the conclusion of a new Fox News poll, which finds that strong support from within their party as well as from majorities of independents helps Republican candidates outperform Democratic candidates in head-to-head presidential matchups.

The poll asked about Republican candidates Arizona Sen. John McCain and former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani and Democratic candidates Massachusetts Sen. John Kerry and New York Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton.

Overall, the Republican candidates top their Democratic opponents, and while the two Republican candidates get about the same level of support in each trial heat, Clinton performs significantly better than 2004 Democratic presidential nominee Kerry.

Among registered voters, Giuliani bests Clinton by 11 percentage points and Kerry by 19 points. McCain tops Clinton by 13 percentage points and Kerry by 20 points. These results are in line with past Fox News results on these vote questions, with the only real change being a lessening of support for Kerry.
There are clear differences in the amount of support the candidates receive from within their own party. For instance, Giuliani and McCain capture between 84 percent to 89 percent of the Republican vote in the matchups, while Clinton captures 70 percent to 75 percent among Democrats, and Kerry�s highest is 65 percent.

Furthermore, Democrats are two-to-three times more likely than Republicans to say they would vote for the other party�s candidate. In the Giuliani-Clinton vote, 17 percent of Democrats say they would vote for the Republican, while 7 percent of Republicans say they would vote for Democrat. The other matchups show even higher numbers of party switchers among Democrats.

What about swing voters? The Republican candidates receive over 50 percent of the vote among self-identified independents in each of the four matchups.

Clinton has the highest portion of voters that say they would "definitely� vote for her, but she also has about twice as many as Giuliani and McCain that say "under no conditions� would they vote for her.

Over a third (35 percent) say they would definitely vote for Clinton, 19 percent say maybe and 44 percent say no way. In comparison, 30 percent would definitely vote for McCain, 40 percent would consider it and 22 percent definitely would not vote for him. Giuliani�s results are almost identical to McCain�s.

On a wide-ranging list of individuals, the poll asked the simple question � "would this person make a good president?� Three people receive support from at least half of voters: Giuliani (60 percent), McCain (55 percent) and Clinton (50 percent). Nearly half think Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice (47 percent) and John Kerry (45 percent) would be good.

A third (34 percent) think former Vice President Al Gore would make a good president, putting him ahead of talk show host/entrepreneur Oprah Winfrey (24 percent), Sen. Ted Kennedy, D-Mass. (23 percent), and George Pataki (15 percent). Oprah receives twice as much support as real estate developer/television personality Donald Trump (11 percent) and California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger (11 percent).