KEY POINTS
- Overall, Obama leads Clinton and Edwards in SC by at least 10 points...
- Obama 37 percent
- Clinton 27 percent
- Edwards 15 percent
- Don’t Know/Not Sure 22 percent
- ...and leads among Black voters by more than 20 points
- Obama 53 percent
- Clinton 21 percent
- Edwards 3 percent
- Don’t Know/Not Sure 24 percent
- Don’t Know/Not Sure make up 22 percent of those polled, a bit higher than expected
BLACK & WHITE VOTERS
- Among Black women, who make up the bulk of the Black vote in SC, they support Obama more than 2-1
- Obama 48 percent
- Clinton 23 percent
- Edwards 4 percent
- Don’t Know/Not Sure 25 percent
- However, among single Black mothers, the gap is much more narrow
- Obama 35 percent
- Clinton 32 percent
- Edwards 0
- Don’t Know/Not Sure 32 percent
- Obama’s strongest area of support is among younger Black men under 45...
- Obama 75 percent
- Clinton 15 percent
- Edwards 3 percent
- Don’t Know/Not Sure 8 percent
- ... And weaker among older Black women, 60+
- Obama 45 percent
- Clinton 23 percent
- Edwards 4 percent
- Don’t Know/Not Sure 29 percent
- Regular Black churchgoers (those who attend 2 or more times a week) support Obama as well,
- Obama 52 percent
- Clinton 20 percent
- Edwards 4 percent
- Don’t Know/Not Sure 24 percent
- ...With the strongest support coming from younger, occasional Black church attendees (once a week or less)
- Obama 61 percent
- Clinton 16 percent
- Edwards 0 percent
- Don’t Know/Not Sure 23 percent
- When it comes to White voters overall, they tend to support Clinton...
- Obama 17 percent
- Clinton 35 percent
- Edwards 29 percent
- Don’t Know/Not Sure 19 percent
- ...with the support even more pronounced among White women
- Obama 15 percent
- Clinton 38 percent
- Edwards 28 percent
- Don’t Know/Not Sure 19 percent
OVERALL
- Overall, Obama’s support may run deeper than Clinton’s. 29 percent of those who support Obama say they do so enthusiastically, while only 20 percent say the same for Clinton
- When asked about the surrogates, Bill Clinton had higher favorable ratings than candidate Edwards, but below Sen. Clinton and Obama
- Hillary Clinton 78 percent
- Barack Obama 76 percent
- Bill Clinton 75 percent
- John Edwards 70 percent
- Oprah Winfrey 67 percent
- Michelle Obama 57 percent
- Elizabeth Edwards 56 percent
- Jim Clyburn 50 percent
- When asked about key issues, voters polled ranked these as the most important issues:
- Economy (37 percent)
- Iraq (23 percent)
- Health Care (18 percent)
- Immigration (6 percent)
- Education (4 percent)
- Crime & Drugs (4 percent)
- Overall, those polled think Obama is more honest and trustworthy...
- Obama 34 percent
- Clinton 18 percent
- Edwards 19 percent
- Don’t Know/Not Sure 30 percent
- ... And has the best vision for America...
- Obama 39 percent
- Clinton 26 percent
- Edwards 16 percent
- Don’t Know/Not Sure 19 percent
- ...But say that Clinton has the best experience to be president.
- Obama 20 percent
- Clinton 49 percent
- Edwards 10 percent
- Don’t Know/Not Sure 21 percent
- Voters also said that they think that setting the right tone and vision is important, but it is more important to have the experience to manage and run the Washington D.C. Bureaucracy
- “Vision and tone” is important 39 percent
- But “experience to manage and run” is needed, too 51 percent
Methodology:
Results for the statewide survey are based on telephone interviews conducted by professional callers under the direction of Lester & Associates. For the sample, a voter file was provided by the South Carolina Democratic Party. The survey included 600 adults, 18 years of age or older, who said they "were likely" to vote in the January 29, 2008 democratic primary. For results based on the total sample, one can say with 95% confidence that the error attributable to sampling is plus or minus 2.9% percentage points. For results based on smaller subgroups the error attributable to sampling is higher. Fifty-four percent of survey respondents were African-American, 43 percent were white and 3 percent were of "other" races.
Read Kevin Chappell on the poll results
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