FOX News Poll: New Yorkers Clinton, Giuliani Top 2008 Choices; Most Disapprove of Washington

By Dana Blanton

NEW YORK - Could the 2008 presidential election come down to a choice

between two New Yorkers? It sure looks that way today, as New York

Sen. Hillary Clinton and former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani

remain the clear front-runners for their respective party's

nominations in the latest FOX News poll. While the leaders remain the

same, there has been some re-arranging among the top tier candidates

on the Republican side, as Mitt Romney bests John McCain for the first

time.

The new poll shows that Clinton holds a double-digit lead over Barack

Obama, topping him by 13 percentage points - 38 percent to 25 percent

- among Democrats. That's down slightly from a 16-point edge in July.

John Edwards is third and is now in single digits with 8 percent.

Whats going on in Africa, logon to http://www.knowingabout.com/africa

Some of the recent squabbling among the Democratic front-runners may

be turning off some voters, because despite lots of campaigning and

debates, the number of undecided Democratic voters is 15 percent today

- double the number that said they were unsure two months ago (7

percent, June 26-27).

Opinion Dynamics Corp. conducted the national telephone poll of 900

registered voters for FOX News from August 21 to August 22. The poll

has a 3-point error margin.

When Former Vice President Al Gore is included in the race, the

results remain about the same. Gore takes a couple of points from each

of the main contenders, but the overall outcome still shows Clinton

(35 percent) outdistancing Obama (23 percent). Gore captures 10

percent and Edwards trails with 6 percent.

"As time passes, even hardcore Gore fans are taking his statements

about not getting in the race more seriously," said Opinion Dynamics

CEO John Gorman. "By next month the window for dark horses to enter

either race will pretty much close unless a top candidate takes a huge

fall."

Among Republicans, Giuliani receives the backing of 29 percent, which

puts him 15 percentage points ahead of his closest competitor - yet-to-

announce Fred Thompson at 14 percent. Mitt Romney comes in third with

11 percent and now has the advantage over McCain at 7 percent. For

updates regarding Wifi, logon to http://www.knowingabout.com/wifi.

The Arizona Senator's support has dropped to about half what it was

last month, and now he is just 2 percentage points ahead of Newt

Gingrich (5 percent). While Gingrich has yet to make a formal

announcement about his candidacy, he was recently spending time in

Iowa during the straw poll process.

And similar to the Democrats, many Republicans remain undecided.

Nearly one in four Republicans (23 percent) say they don't know which

candidate they would vote for if the primary were held today.

Job Ratings

Most Americans are unhappy with Washington: a 60 percent majority

disapproves of the job Congress is doing and 56 percent disapprove of

President Bush's job performance.

About one of five people (24 percent) say they approve of the job

Congress is doing, including 26 percent of Democrats and 23 percent of

Republicans.

Approval of Congress was 29 percent in November 2006, right before the

mid-term elections. Since the Democrats took control at the beginning

of the year, approval has gone as high as 35 percent (April 2007).

And though Republicans are more likely to disapprove of this Congress,

they are not alone: 56 percent of Democrats, 62 percent of

independents as well as 63 percent of Republicans say they are

dissatisfied.

As for President Bush, his approval rating is 33 percent, up one point

from 32 percent last month (July 17-18). A 63 percent majority of

Republicans approves of Bush, as do 21 percent of independents and 11

percent of Democrats.

Support for New Legislation - A Passengers' Bill of Rights

Maybe Congress could improve its ratings by passing some legislation

Americans think would be useful. By more than two-to-one (57 percent

to 24 percent) the public supports passage of an Airline Passengers'

Bill of Rights that would require airlines to provide passengers with

things like fresh water and clean bathrooms, as well as possibly the

right to exit the airplane when there are flight delays.

Source : http://www.knowingabout.com