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May 20, 2008

Gallup Daily: Obama Maintains Large Lead Over Clinton

National Democrats prefer Obama by 54% to 40%

PRINCETON, NJ -- National Democratic voters prefer Barack Obama to Hillary Clinton as the party's presidential nominee by a 54% to 40%, according to May 17-19 Gallup Poll Daily tracking.

Obama has now enjoyed a double-digit lead on this measure each of the last three days, including a high of 16 percentage points in May 16-18 polling. It appears as though the momentum has strongly shifted in his favor, as he has led Clinton by double digits in five of the last six individual days of tracking (including in each of the last four days). (To view the complete trend since Jan. 3, 2008, click here.)

Clinton hopes to reverse Obama's gathering momentum by winning big in the Kentucky primary and pulling an upset in the Oregon primary, both being held today.

In the latest five-day average of registered voters' presidential election preferences, based on May 15-19 polling, both Obama (47% to 44%) and Clinton (48% to 44%) hold an advantage over likely Republican nominee John McCain. -- Jeff Jones

Survey Methods

For the Gallup Poll Daily tracking survey, Gallup is interviewing no fewer than 1,000 U.S. adults nationwide each day during 2008.

The Democratic nomination results are based on combined data from May 17-19, 2008. For results based on this sample of 1,283 Democratic and Democratic-leaning voters, the maximum margin of sampling error is ±3 percentage points.

The general election results are based on combined data from May 15-19, 2008. For results based on this sample of 4,464 registered voters, the maximum margin of sampling error is ±2 percentage points.

Interviews are conducted with respondents on land-line telephones (for respondents with a land-line telephone) and cellular phones (for respondents who are cell-phone only).

In addition to sampling error, question wording and practical difficulties in conducting surveys can introduce error or bias into the findings of public opinion polls.

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Click below for more on these topics:

Gallup Poll: Election 2008
Click here for Gallup's complete coverage of Election 2008, including up-to-the-minute reports, our editors' blog, and election trends by group.
Gallup Poll: Election 2008

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