Hillary Clinton, Obama top U.S. Democratic presidential hopefuls for 2008: poll

U.S. Senators Hillary Rodham Clinton and Barack Obama topped the list of potential Democratic candidates for the party's presidential nomination in 2008, a new CNN poll showed.

Obama, from Illinois, recently said he was considering a bid for his party's presidential nomination, trailed only Clinton on the list, CNN reported Thursday, citing poll results released on Wednesday.

Obama got support from 17 percent of registered Democrats, ahead of former Vice President Al Gore, former Senator John Edwards of North Carolina and Senator John Kerry of Massachusetts, according to the poll.

Clinton's share of the Democratic voters had fallen from 38 percent in September to 28 percent, and Gore's support had fallen from 19 percent in September to 13 percent.

On the Republican side, Senator John McCain of Arizona was running neck and neck with former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani among Republicans, the poll found.

The poll showed 29 percent of registered Republicans expressed preference for Giuliani and 27 percent opted for McCain, who had picked up six points of support since September, with Giuliani holding steady.

Former Speaker of the House Newt Gingrich of Georgia was the only other Republican to make it into double digits, with 12 percent.

The poll of 873 registered voters - 472 people who identified themselves as Democrats or leaning Democrat and 401 who identified themselves as Republican or leaning Republican -- was carried out last Friday through Sunday.

The sampling error for questions asked of Democrats was plus or minus 4.5 points, and for those asked of Republicans was plus or minus 5 points.

Source: Xinhua