Poll: Clinton, Giuliani Increase Their Leads in Pennsylvania

The latest poll from Quinnipiac University shows the changes taking place in the races for the Democratic and Republican nominations in Pennsylvania.

On the Democratic side of the election in Pennsylvania, New York Sen. Hillary Clinton has greatly increased her lead. She gets 42% of the vote, Vice President Al Gore, who says he will not be a candidate, gets 13%, Senator Barack Obama is third with 12% and former North Carolina Sen. John Edwards comes in with 8%.

Back at the beginning of August, Clinton had 35% and Obama got 19%.

Clinton also passed her closest rival on the Republican side, former New York City Mayor Rudolph Giuliani, by 46 - 44%.

Taking a look as some other head to head races, Clinton is in the lead over Arizona Senator John McCain by a margin of 47 - 41% as well as former Tennessee Senator Fred Thompson 50 - 36% and she also leads former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney by a margin of 50 -35%.

Obama also has the lead over the top Republican candidates. He leads McCain by 43 - 40%, Thompson by 46 - 34% and Romney by a margin of 46 - 31%

Edwards, also has a lead over the same three that Obama does and his figures are actually a bit better. He gets the better of McCain by a 46 - 38% margin, Thompson loses to him by a 51 - 32% margin and Romney loses by 53 - 29%

The only Republican who has a lead over Obama and Edwards is Giuliani, who leads Obama by 45-40% and Edwards by 45-43%

When it comes to how the Republican candidates are doing against each other in their own primary race in Pennsylvania, Giuliani still maintains a huge lead over the rest of the field, coming in with 31% In second place is with 13%, then another non candidate, former House Speaker Newt Gingrich with 9%. Thomposn is the Republic who has really slipped in the ratings, coming in with 8% now compared to 14% at the beginning of August. And last comes former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney, with 7%, which is a 3% increase for him.

The next question asked the voters to give each of the candidates a favorability rating and Giuliani come in with the highest at 52% favorable, 28% unfavorable. Clinton is next with 51- 41%, Gore is third with 48 -41%, then McCain at 46 -30 %, Obama gets 46- 23% and Edwards gets 41-30 %. When it comes to Thompson and Romney, 55% said they did not know enough about Thompson and 50% said they did not know enough about Romeny to give an opinion about them
.
They also asked the voters of both parties to voice their opinion on how President Bush is doing. He gets an overall disapproval rating of 67- 30%. On the war in Iraq, his disapproval rating is 67 -28%, while Congress get a 54-43% approval rating for their plan to set a timetable to bring the troops home.

Source: Quinnipiac university http://www.quinnipiac.edu/x