Obama widens national lead in USA TODAY/Gallup Poll

By Susan Page, USA TODAY
WASHINGTON — Barack Obama has widened his lead nationally for the Democratic presidential nomination despite a furor over his comments about small-town Americans, a USA TODAY/Gallup Poll finds. Rival Hillary Rodham Clinton is getting more of the blame among those who say their contest has become too negative. As the candidates make a final push for votes in today's Pennsylvania primary, Obama leads the survey by 50%-40% among Democrats and voters who lean Democratic. That's a bigger edge than the 7 percentage-point lead he held in the USA TODAY poll last month. Efforts by Clinton and John McCain, the presumptive Republican nominee, to characterize Obama as elitist for his remarks at a San Francisco fundraiser seem to have failed. Seven of 10 say Obama "respects working-class Americans" rather than looks down on them — a slightly more positive reading than that for McCain or Clinton.

Meanwhile, President Bush set an unwelcome record, scoring the highest disapproval rating — 69% — in the history of the Gallup Poll, which dates to Franklin Roosevelt's tenure. Bush's approval rating is 28%, matching the low point of his presidency. [MORE]

PA. Poll Shows Clinton Pulling Away - Capturing Underducated White Male Vote
The last Zogby tracking poll before the Pennsylvania primary shows Sen. Hillary Clinton continues to pull away from Sen. Barack Obama and now leads, 51% to 41%, pushing her beyond the poll's margin of error. Said pollster John Zogby: "Sounds like a radio station's call letters, but remember WECM - white, ethnic, Catholic, men. That is what put Clinton into her double digit lead here in Pennsylvania." [MORE]