Hillary Maintains Lead in USA Today Poll

Hillary Clinton has dropped 4 points, but still maintains a solid lead over Barack Obama as the preferred Democratic nominee in the latest USA Today/Gallup poll.

The poll, conducted between 2 and 4 March, shows Clinton on 36% compared with Barack Obama on 22%. The same poll in January had Clinton on 40% and Obama on 21%.

There was also a surprising surge in the support of Al Gore, rising from 14% in February to 18% in the latest poll. His favorable rating has also increased to 55%. The Clinton camp are closely monitoring Al Gore. Clinton adviser James Carville has already said that he believes that Gore will run for the nomination.

John Edwards' rating fell from 13% in February to just 9% in this poll.

Clinton's favourable rating has decreased slightly from 58% to 54%.

The poll surveyed 482 Democrat and Democrat leaning voters.