In a recent national poll, a little half of registered Democrats want Senator Barack Obama of Illinois to win the Democratic presidential nomination. A little over half preferred Obama as the nominee while forty-five percent said they want Clinton as the nominee.
Both Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton are the two remaining candidates in the Democratic race. Both of them are also at frontrunner status. Obama still has a marginal lead over Clinton in pledged delegates.
“The same patterns that we have been seeing in recent exit polls are holding true for Democrats nationwide as well. Obama’s biggest support comes from men, younger voters and independents who lean Democratic,” explains Keating Holland, who is the polling director for CNN.
Holland adds: “Clinton does best among women, older voters and whites. One interesting difference, unlike the exit polls in many states, there is no difference in the national poll between college-educated Democrats and those who never attended college.”
There are two main factors that will affect on who gets the Democratic nomination. Florida and Michigan were stripped of its delegates by breaking rules by the Democratic National Committee by holding primaries too early. Hillary Clinton had won both states. Both Clinton and Obama have agreed not to campaign those states in respect to the DNC rules.
Obama removed his name from the ballot in Michigan. Clinton has demanded that the votes from both states count. While Obama agrees that their votes should count, he said that Clinton should not be awarded those delegates. If the votes did count, Clinton would have a lead over Obama.
There are talks about a possible revote in both states.
The other major factor is the superdelegates. They are not pledged delegates. These delegates can vote for whatever candidate they want. Clinton has a marginal lead over Obama on superdelegates.
It could possibly look as if the superdelegates will decide who gets the Democratic nomination. The remaining superdelegates remain on the fence on which candidate to pick.
New Mexico Governor Bill Richardson, a former Democratic presidential hopeful has said there must be a nominee before the Democratic National Convention in Denver, Colorado, this coming August.
Democratic House Speaker Nancy Pelosi who has remained neutral between the candidates said that the remaining superdelegates cannot afford to remain on the sidelines. Massachusetts Democratic governor Deval Patrick said that Democrats must unify.
While the poll says the majority of registered Democrats prefer Obama as the nominee, the party itself remains divided and in pain.