McCain, Clinton have big leads in California

By Cathleen Decker, Los Angeles Times Staff Writer
January 29, 2008

One week before California throws itself into the presidential contest, John McCain and Hillary Rodham Clinton hold imposing leads in the races for their parties' nominations, but the battles remain extremely volatile, a new statewide poll has found.

The L.A. Times/CNN/Politico poll, conducted by Opinion Research Corp., showed that McCain has vaulted ahead of three other candidates with whom he shared a statistical tie for the Republican nomination just two weeks ago. He carried 39% of likely Republican primary participants, to 26% for Mitt Romney, who also bolstered his standing among California voters. Rudolph W. Giuliani and Mike Huckabee were stalled at essentially the same level as two weeks ago -- 13% and 11%, respectively.

Clinton maintained a 49% to 32% lead over Illinois Sen. Barack Obama among Democrats, despite losing some support in key voter groups. Democratic women continued to power her effort, siding with the New York senator by nearly a 2-1 margin.

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