In campus-wide poll, Obama eclipses former Eli Clinton
By The Yale Daily News
Posted 3:55 p.m. He may be locked in a three-way dead heat in the latest polls of Iowa Democrats, but with one day to go before the voting begins in the 2008 presidential primaries, Senator Barack Obama has the residential-college vote all but locked up.
The Illinois Democrat was the top choice of 26.4 percent of undergraduates surveyed in a recent Yale Daily News poll, giving him more than twice the support of New York Senator Hillary Clinton LAW ’73 — the only Yale graduate in the field — who registered 12.1 percent.
With 42.3 percent of students saying they are still undecided, no other candidate even came close to matching that figure: the next-highest finisher was former North Carolina Senator John Edwards, who won 3.7 percent of the vote. Connecticut Senator Chris Dodd, who has represented the Nutmeg State since 1980, garnered just 0.2 percent support.
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The News’ poll — conducted online between Dec. 31 and Jan. 2 and sent to the entire undergraduate student body — received 1,833 responses.
Despite Obama’s popularity on campus, students remain unconvinced that the first-term legislator will become the next president. Just 49 percent of his supporters and 34 percent of students overall think Obama will win the Democratic nomination, and only 28 percent of students believe he will be sworn in next January.
Clinton, by comparison, is likely to emerge as the Democratic nominee, according to 85 percent of her supporters and 57 percent of students overall. More than two-fifths of those polled — 43 percent — say they think Clinton will become the 44th president.
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Clinton’s chief source of support comes from students who listed social issues as their primary concern in selecting a candidate. Of her backers, 27 percent identified issues such as abortion and gay marriage as their top concern, and another 26 percent pointed to foreign policy.
The numbers for Obama are similar: 27 percent of his supporters said foreign policy is the most important issue to them, and 19 percent identified social issues. But the former first lady registered a decisive lead among those most worried about the economy, with 18 percent of her supporters labeling it their most important issue, compared with only 8 percent for Obama.
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Obama’s support in the poll reflects national trends that indicate he draws much of his support from college-age and first-time voters. In a Des Moines Register poll released over the weekend, 72 percent of those supporting Obama said they will be caucusing for the first time Thursday.
http://www.yaledailynews.com/articles/view/22877