Rudy Giuliani and Hillary Rodham Clinton continue to be the frontrunners for their parties’ presidential nominations, though on the Republican side the momentum is with Fred Thompson and Democrat Barack Obama has the broadest appeal of any candidate.
A new Bloomberg/Los Angeles Times poll shows Thompson with 21 percent support, trailing only Giuliani, who has 27 percent; Arizona Sen. John McCain and former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney run well behind. Thompson, who has yet to announce his candidacy, beats everyone among self-described conservatives, considered the base of the Republican Party.
“Thompson was able to resonate because the Republicans are not that thrilled with their candidates,” said Susan Pinkus, the Los Angeles Times poll director.
Among Democrats, Clinton is in first place, with 33 percent, followed by Obama with 22 percent and former Vice President Al Gore, who has said he won’t be a candidate, with 15 percent. The survey of 1,056 registered voters was conducted June 7-10 and has a margin of sampling error of plus or minus 3 percentage points.
Obama is the strongest general-election candidate. He is the only Democrat who beats all three major Republican contenders: Giuliani, McCain and Romney. Clinton runs behind all three Republican contenders in head-to-head match-ups.
Obama also does better than the Democrats among independent voters who will vote in the Democratic primary. Moreover, he has more appeal with some Republican voters.
