Obama Catches Up With Clinton Among Middle-Aged, Women, Hispanics

Washington, D.C. (AHN) - After overtaking Sen. Hillary Clinton (D-NY) for the first time on Monday in Gallup's daily tracking, Sen. Barack Obama (D-IL) dropped three percentage points on Tuesday to tie with Clinton for the poll's top spot. Despite the decline in his numbers, Obama "made gains among three [voter] groups that have favored Clinton throughout much of the campaign," according to Gallup.

Poll results released Tuesday show Obama and Clinton statistically tied for first place, with 46 percent and 45 percent, respectively. Obama for the first time surpassed his rival in Gallup's daily tracking a day earlier, 49 percent to 42 percent.

In spite of the slight drop in overall support, Obama has considerably increased his support among among middle-aged, women and hispanic voters. He now holds the lead among Democratic voters between the ages of 35 to 54, 51 percent to 42 percent.

There has also been significant erosion in Clinton's support among women voters, according to the poll. The former First Lady enjoyed strong strong support among women in the primaries she won, particularly those held on Super Tuesday. However she is now statistically tied with Obama among women voters, 46 percent to 45 percent.

Among Hispanic voters nationwide, Obama now leads Clinton, 50 percent to 46 percent. NBC exit polls in California, the biggest Super Tuesday state, showed Obama receiving only 32 percent support while Clinton got 67 percent. The same poll revealed the Clinton got votes from 54 percent of middle-aged voters, and 59 percent of female voters, while Obama accounted for only 41 percent and 36 percent for the two respective voter groups.

Gallup's daily tracking is a survey of 1,000 adults nationwide. The results of Tuesday's poll are based on interviews among 1,204 Democratic and Democratic-leaning voters and 987 Republican and Republican-leaning voters from February 16 through February 18. Total margin of sampling error is 3 percentage points.

For the group surveys, the results are based on telephone interviews of 2,022 national Democratic voters on February 13 through February 17. Total margin of sampling error is 2 percentage points.