Newsweek/Princeton Research GOP-Democrat National Primary Poll, conducted Feb.6th-7th, 2008

Republicans

• John McCain 51%
• Mike Huckabee 32%
• Ron Paul 6%

Democrats

• Barack Obama 42%
• Hillary Clinton 41%

This poll was conducted by Princeton Survey Research Associates International from Feb. 6-7. Telephone interviews were conducted with 1,214 registered voters. MoE +/- 5%.

Inside the Republican numbers:

• A full three quarters (76 percent) of all Republicans and two thirds (69 percent) of conservatives say they would be happy with McCain as the nominee–indicating that the maverick’s troubles with the right might not run as deep as some have suggested.

• McCain enjoys strong support from those who back him, according the poll. Almost half (47 percent) of his supporters say they back him strongly… McCain is also seen as more electable than his leading remaining rival (77 percent to 12 percent), a more effective leader (62 percent to 22 percent), a more able commander in chief (69 percent to 19 percent) and as having enough experience for the job (63 percent to 21 percent).

• The economy is the top issue facing Republican voters; 35 percent of those surveyed listed it as their leading concern, followed by terrorism and national security (19 percent), illegal immigration (13 percent) and Iraq (12 percent). Sixteen percent of Huckabee’s backers place immigration as their top issue compared to 5 percent of McCain voters.

And for the Dems:

• A statistically significant number, 17 percent, still remain undecided. This may translate into good news for Obama, who carried Democratic-leaning independent voters 49 percent to 31 percent in the poll.

• The survey found that 62 percent of Clinton supporters and 60 percent of Obama supporters feel strongly about their candidate.

• Obama’s support is strongest among African-Americans (68 percent), college graduates (49 percent) and men (47 percent). Clinton enjoys more support among those with a high-school education or less (48 percent), whites (44 percent), women (44 percent) and voters 60 and older (44 percent).

• Among all Democratic voters, Obama is seen as the more inspiring and exciting candidate (63 percent to 25 percent) and more able to bring the country together than his opponent (50 percent to 34 percent). But he enjoys only a small advantage when it comes to which candidate is seen as mostly likely to bring about change (44 percent to 38 percent), a major theme of both campaigns. Clinton, on the other hand is more apt to be seen as the candidate with the right experience for the job (62 percent to 22 percent) and ability to get things done (50 percent to 31 percent).

• Supporters of both Obama and Clinton are equally likely to put the economy first (48 percent to 47 percent), while Obama supporters are more likely to consider the war in Iraq–which the Illinois senator has objected to from the outset–the more important factor (20 percent to 12 percent). Democratic voters across the board consider the economy and jobs the most important issue (46 percent), followed by health care (21 percent) and then Iraq (17 percent).

• Democratic voters suggest that whomever wins the nomination will be able to unite the party–slightly more so than their Republican counterparts. Eighty-four percent of all Democratic voters say they would be happy with either candidate as their nominee (76 percent of Republican voters would be happy with McCain; 65 percent with Huckabee).-(emphasis mine)