Election 2008: McCain Crushes Kerry and Clark

[Ron Burgundy]

Rasmussen Reports - Arizona Senator John McCain (R) crushes both Massachusetts Senator John Kerry (D) and General Wesley Clark (D) in hypothetical Election 2008 Presidential match-ups.

Arizona Senator John McCain (R) crushes both Massachusetts Senator John Kerry (D) and General Wesley Clark (D) in hypothetical Election 2008 Presidential match-ups.

McCain leads Kerry by 18 points, 53% to 35%. That's very similar to the 53% to 36% edge McCain enjoyed in our previous poll on this match-up.

McCain also leads Clark by 18 points, 51% to 33%. This is the first time we've polled a McCain-Clark election. Against both these Democrats, McCain attracts votes from roughly one-of-every-four Democrats. He also leads these candidates by a 2-to-1 margin among unaffiliated voters.

Most voters (59%) have a favorable opinion of John McCain. Most (53%) also have an unfavorable opinion of John Kerry, the Democratic standard bearer in 2004. Clark is less well known than either and is currently viewed favorably by 39% of all voters.

When it comes to winning the GOP nomination, McCain is currently in second place behind former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani. Kerry and Clark are both far off the pace in the competition for the Democratic nomination.

So far, we have tested McCain against eight Democratic candidates (including Evan Bayh, who recently dropped out). McCain leads all eight, including four by double digits (this category includes Kerry, Clark, Bayh, and Vilsack). McCain holds single digit leads over Hillary Clinton, John Edwards, Barack Obama, and Al Gore.

To check out a variety of Election 2008 match-ups, see our summary of leading Republican and Democratic candidates. We also continuously update favorability ratings for all Republican candidates, all Democratic candidates, Congressional leaders, and other political figures.

This national telephone survey of 1,000 Likely Voters was conducted by Rasmussen Reports December 16-17, 2006 with a 95% level of confidence. The margin of sampling error for the survey is +/- 3 percentage points with a 95% level of confidence.

Rasmussen Reports is an electronic publishing firm specializing in the collection, publication, and distribution of public opinion polling information.