Obama, Double Digits Leads after Clinton Dropped Out

Obama goes into Double Digits Leads after Clinton Dropped Out

Obama led McCain 51%-38% in Gallup polling of 2,263 registered femalevoters June 5-9. The 13-percentage-point lead among women was up from 5points the previous week, before the Democratic nomination ended. Obamanow matches Clinton’s performance against McCain, Gallup said Wednesday.

WASHINGTON — Barack Obama has moved into double-digit leads over Republican John McCain in two new polls of women voters, suggesting he is drawing support from women who once backed Hillary Rodham Clinton.

The Gallup results mirrored Obama’s 52%-39% lead among women in a Rasmussen Reports poll of 3,000 likely voters June 8-10. The polls’ margins of error are +/— 2 to 3 percentage points. Clinton on June 4 signaled her intent to withdraw and officially suspended her campaign Saturday. Some of her supporters said they would never vote for Obama, and one man, Ed Hale, started a website for former Clinton supporters now backing McCain.

Minnesota Republican Gov. Tim Pawlenty and other McCain supporters, meanwhile, predicted McCain would win many of the women who voted for Clinton.

Two of Clinton’s strongest advocates went on the offensive Wednesday to quash that line of thinking. “I think that idea’s a pipe dream. Sen. McCain is really out of touch with the lives these women are leading,” Ellen Malcolm, president of the fundraising group EMILY’s List, said in a conference call.

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