A new Gallup Poll finds Sen. Hillary Clinton with a slim but not statistically significant advantage over both former Mayor Rudy Giuliani and Sen. John McCain in head-to-head matchups for the 2008 general election for president. Clinton has much more substantial leads over former Sen. Fred Thompson and former Gov. Mitt Romney. Sen. Barack Obama also has significant leads over Thompson and Romney, but essentially ties with Giuliani and McCain.
The poll of 897 registered voters nationwide was conducted Nov. 11-14, 2007.
Clinton -- the dominant front-runner for the Democratic presidential nomination -- would appear to have at least a slight advantage over any Republican candidate among registered voters if the election were held today. She has a five-point edge over Giuliani (49% to 44%) and a six-point edge over McCain (50% to 44%), but neither lead is statistically significant. Clinton runs much more strongly against the lesser-known Thompson (53% to 40%) and Romney (54% to 38%).
The results for Obama matched up against the Republican candidates are largely similar to those for Clinton. He has substantial leads over both Thompson and Romney, and is highly competitive with McCain and Giuliani. Though Clinton's margins of support over McCain (six points) and Giuliani (five points) are larger than Obama's margins of support against the same candidates (three points and zero points, respectively), the differences are not large enough to be considered meaningful from a statistical perspective.
Obama has not improved his standing against any of the leading Republican candidates compared to the poll results from the summer. Obama already enjoyed a sizable lead over Thompson in the summer and continues to do so in the latest poll, so Clinton's improvement versus the actor and former senator mainly catches her up with Obama in their respective matchups with Thompson.
http://www.gallup.com/poll/102862/Democratic-Candidates-Look-Good-Latest-2008-Trial-Heats.aspx?version=print