08237
March 27, 2008

Poll: Clinton leads Obama in most religious groups

by Brittani Hamm
Religion News Service

WASHINGTON — Sen. Hillary Clinton is leading Sen. Barack Obama among most religious groups, with the exception of black Protestants and those practicing non-Christian religions or no religion, a new Gallup Poll says.
   
Clinton held a 56 percent to 37 percent lead among all Catholics and a 53 percent to 42 percent lead among non-white Catholics.
   
Among Democratic voters surveyed, Clinton leads by more than 20 points among white Protestants, but Obama maintains a solid 45-point lead over Clinton among non-white Protestants, 70 percent to 25 percent.
   
Overall, however, Protestant voters were almost equally divided between the two candidates, favoring Obama by only 3 percentage points.
   
Among Jewish Democrats, Clinton’s lead was 48 percent to 43 percent, within the margin of error (plus or minus 6 percentage points) for the survey of 348 Jews who were surveyed.
   
The poll was conducted amid reports on the controversial sermons of Rev. Jeremiah Wright, Obama’s former Chicago pastor, whom critics accuse of being anti-Israel.
   
Rabbi Marc Schneier, president of the New York-based Foundation for Ethnic Understanding, said Wright’s comments are not enough to derail decades of black-Jewish alliances forged in the struggle for civil rights.
   
“One might assume that in light of recent difficulties that Obama has faced ... that Jews would be drifting away from his support,” Schneier said. “But there is a great history among blacks and Jews in this country that I believe transcends any kind of controversy.”
   
The survey of 9,204 adults was conducted by telephone during March 1-22. The margin of error for the entire poll is plus or minus 2 percentage points.