Poll: Obama leading Clinton among Illinois Democrats likely to vote

~ The poll also found former New York mayor Rudy Giuliani in a dead heat with former Arkansas governor Mike Huckabee.

CHICAGO -- Illinois Democrats likely to vote in the presidential primary support Barack Obama 2 to 1 over Hillary Rodham Clinton, according to a new poll done for the Chicago Tribune and WGN-TV.

Obama had 50 percent of voter support compared to 25 percent for Clinton and 25 percent of voters supporting another candidate or saying they were undecided in the poll published in tody's Tribune. But when asked which one of the U.S. senators has the best chance of winning the White House, voters gave Clinton 39 percent and Obama 37 percent.

The poll also found former New York mayor Rudy Giuliani in a dead heat with former Arkansas governor Mike Huckabee among Illinois Republicans likely to vote in the primary Feb. 5, but few voters thought Huckabee would win the general election.

Giuliani had 23 percent and Huckabee had 21 percent, but when asked about electability in the general election 42 percent of voters said Giuliani had a better chance of winning the White House compared to 14 percent for Huckabee.

Democratic presidential hopeful Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton, D-N.Y. listens during the Des Moines Register Democratic Presidential Debate in Johnston, Iowa, Thursday, Dec. 13, 2007. (AP Photo/Charlie Neibergall)

The poll was done for the Chicago Tribune and WGN-TV by Market Shares Corp. between Dec. 9 through 13. It was based on phone interviews with 500 likely voters in the state's Democratic primary and 500 likely voters in the state's Republican primary. The margin of error was plus or minus 4.4 percentage points.

Other contenders

Rounding out the Democratic field was former U.S. Sen. John Edwards of North Carolina with 7 percent, New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson, U.S. Sen. Joe Biden of Delaware and U.S. Rep. Dennis Kucinich of Ohio with 2 percent each and U.S. Sen. Christopher Dodd of Connecticut with less than 1 percent. The Democratic poll showed 11 percent undecided.

On the Republican side, former Massachusetts governor Mitt Romney had 14 percent, U.S. senator John McCain of Arizona had 12 percent, former U.S. Sen. Fred Thompson of Tennessee had 11 percent, U.S. Rep. Ron Paul of Texas had 3 percent and U.S. Rep. Tom Tancredo of Colorado had 1 percent. Of GOP voters polled, 14 percent were undecided.

Voters for both parties also were asked the chances of their party controlling the White house after the general election regardless of who wins the primary. On the Democratic side, 82 percent said chances for their party were very good to excellent, while 45 percent of Republicans said chances were very good to excellent.