Poll Shows Clinton With Solid Lead Among Democrats

Clinton leads among both women and men in the new poll, holds a 30-point advantage among those from households with incomes under $50,000 and has a 2 to 1 lead among those with an education of a high school diploma or less.

Obama's strength stems from relatively high support among those with higher levels of education and income and from independents -- groups that have helped him achieve record fundraising success. But Clinton is competitive with Obama within these groups as well.

She and Obama split the votes of Democrats with college degrees and of those with household incomes of $50,000 a year or higher. They also have about equal levels of support from Democratic-leaning independents. (Among mainline Democrats, Clinton has an advantage of 50 percent to 31 percent.)

Among whites, Clinton leads Obama by double digits, but the two run nearly neck-and-neck among African Americans: Forty-six percent would vote for Obama and 40 percent for Clinton.

Clinton's backers also tend to be more enthusiastic in their support than are Obama's, but both candidates have solidified some of their support from early June. Two-thirds of Democrats who support Clinton do so strongly, compared with 56 percent of Obama's supporters.

New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson registers at 3 percent in this national poll, but he has gained strength in Iowa and New Hampshire, according to recent public polls of those states. Sen. Joseph R. Biden Jr. (Del.) gets 2 percent, and 1 percent each went for Sen. Christopher J. Dodd (Conn.) and Rep. Dennis Kucinich (Ohio). None of the 606 Democrats and Democratic-leaning independent respondents in this poll supported former senator Mike Gravel (Alaska), who will also be on the stage tonight at The Citadel in Charleston.

If 2000 Democratic candidate Al Gore were in the race, 14 percent would support him. Clinton and Obama would remain atop the field, with Clinton leading by double digits.

This Post-ABC News poll also gauged how comfortable Americans are at the prospect of a barrier-breaking president. Large majorities said they would be comfortable with a woman, African American or Hispanic president, but fewer would be "entirely comfortable."

Eight in 10 said they would be comfortable with a female head of state; 86 percent said so of an African American, as did 74 percent of a Hispanic. But fewer said they would have no reservations: Fifty-four percent would be "entirely comfortable" with a female president, 56 percent with an African American and 44 percent with a Latino. Some of this hesitancy may reflect that the question is no longer hypothetical in a field that features contenders seeking to be the first president who is female (Clinton), African American (Obama) or Latino (Richardson).

Although it is only July, Americans are paying closer attention to this presidential race than they have to past contests. Seventy percent of those surveyed are following the election very or somewhat closely. But far fewer are watching the televised debates. Seventy-three percent have not tuned in to any of the debates, with about half of those who have skipped watching saying it is simply too early in the campaign.

The poll was conducted July 18-21 among a random national sample of 1,125 adults. The results from the full poll have a margin of sampling error of plus or minus three percentage points; it is four percentage points among Democrats and Democratic-leaning independents.

Polling analyst Jennifer Agiesta contributed to this report.