Poll Finds Many Democrats May Vote For McCain If They're Favorite Candidate Isn't The Nominee

Washington, D.C. (AHN) - Just as reports of thousands of Republicans switching to the Democratic Party in Pennsylvania came streaming in this week, Gallup says Democrats are equally intent on crossing over to the GOP and voting for Sen. John McCain (R-AZ) if a candidate they do not support wins the Democratic party nomination.

The pollster said 28 percent of Sen. Hillary Clinton's (D-NY)supporters and 19 percent of Sen. Barack Obama's (D-IL) supporters would vote for McCain if their candidate lost the party nomination.

This is a clear win-win situation for McCain, who still has been unable to regain the lead he once had over the two Democrats in general election surveys. Gallup's latest match up has him 46-44 percent against Obama and 47-45 percent against Clinton. An NBC/WSJ poll has the respective match-ups at 42-44 percent against Obama and 46-44 percent against the former first lady.

"The data suggest that the continuing and sometimes fractious Democratic nomination fight could have a negative impact for the Democratic Party in next November's election," Gallup said, echoing some pundits who have said the protracted race between Clinton and Obama will eventually hurt the party.

The results are based on telephone interviews of 6,657 national Democratic voters conducted March 7-22. The margin of sampling error is 2 percentage points.