The new Hotline/Diageo poll shows Sen. Hillary Clinton with a 13 point lead over Sen. Barack Obama among Democrats and leading all candidates from both parties in an open end first choice poll. Clinton and Obama do the best among independents and are tied at 11% each. The most surprising figure in the poll is that 47% of all voters plan to vote for the Democratic nominee in 2008 compared to only 29% for the GOP nominee. 87% of Democrats plan to vote for nominee compared to only 71% of Republicans who indicated they plan to vote for the GOP nominee.

19. Thinking ahead to the election for president in 2008, who would you most like to see elected president? (OPEN-END, PRE-CODE)

TOTAL                                   Rep     Ind      Dem
Hillary Clinton               16%    5%     11%    29%
Barack Obama              10%    4%    11%    16%
John Edwards                 8%    3%      8%    12%
Rudy Giuliani                  7%   13%      7%      3%
John McCain                  6%    12%     5%      2%
Fred Thompson               3%      7%     1%      
Mitt Romney                     2%      4%      2%     *
Al Gore                           2%       1%     1%    4%
Newt Gingrich                 1%       3%      1%     -
Sam Brownback              1%        2%      -       -
Joe Biden                         *          -        1%    -
Jim Gilmore                       *         -           -    1%
Mike Huckabee                          1%        -      -
Dennis Kucinich                 *         *         1%   -
Tom Tancredo                    *         *         1%  -
"A Democrat"
(non-specific)                   4%      1%       1%   7%
"A Republican"
(non-specific)                    2%      6%        -      -
Undecided/haven't
decided yet                      18%     17%    25% 14%
Other (SPECIFY)                 1%      1%     -      1%
Wouldn't vote in election * * - *
Don't know/Refused            18%   19%    23%  11%

http://www.diageohotlinepoll.com/07_Mar_ Data.pdf

Field Dates: March 29-April 1, 2007
Sample Size: 800 Registered Voters
Margin of Error: +/-3.5%
Note: Percentage less than 0.5 printed as *.