LIN poll shows tight race between Clinton and Obama

PROVIDENCE – Hillary Rodham Clinton leads by 49 percent to Barack Obama’s 40 percent in a new poll of Rhode Island registered voters, while 11 percent remain undecided, WPRI parent LIN TV Corp. (NYSE: TVL) reported this afternoon.
Telephone pollsters quizzed 401 likely voters statewide this Sunday through Wednesday, asking “if the Rhode Island Democratic Primary for U.S. president was being held today, and the candidates were Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama, for whom would you vote, Clinton or Obama?”
The poll had a margin of error of plus or minus 5 percent, placing Obama and Clinton essentially neck-and-neck in the lead-up to this coming Tuesday’s primary election across Rhode Island. (Including that margin of error, the results were: 44 to 54 percent for Clinton, 35 to 45 percent for Obama, and 6 to 16 percent undecided.)
The frontrunners for the Democratic nomination were even closer when voters were asked which of the two would have a better chance against Republican contender John McCain: 36 percent said Clinton, 33 percent said Obama and 25 percent said their chances were the same. The other 6 percent of respondents said they were not sure.
The survey was conducted by Fleming & Associates on behalf of RIpolitics.tv, LIN TV’s new local “microsite,” and WPRI-TV Channel 12 Providence/New Bedford, the company’s local CBS affiliate.
Its full results – including queries about the issues that will face the next president, and a breakdown of answers by respondent age and gender – are available at RIpolitics.tv. The microsite is one of several recently launched by LIN in various communities, to bring together coverage of local, state and national politics.
LIN TV Corp. (NYSE: TVL) owns or operates 29 television stations and Web sites in 17 mid-sized U.S. markets. Its stations include WNAC (Fox) and WPRI (CBS) in Providence; WWLP (NBC) in Springfield, Mass.; and WTNY (ABC) and WCTX (MyNetworkTV) in the Hartford-New Haven region. Additional information is available atwww.lintv.com.