Jan 17, 2008 10:53 pm US/Eastern
Polls Show Surprising Results For Mass. Primary
BOSTON (WBZ) ―
WBZ has the first snap-shot at the race for president in Massachusetts.
With just 19 days before the primary we have exclusive numbers on the election.
For the Democrats WBZ's exclusive Fast Track results show Hillary Clinton with a commanding lead over Barack Obama and John Edwards.
On the Republican side, former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney holds a 14 point lead over John McCain, though no other GOP candidate is in double digits.
The results are surprising considering what happened in New Hampshire just last week.
Obama and McCain can apparently forget about a New Hampshire bounce in Massachusetts.
You can also discard some of the conventional local wisdom about Clinton and Romney.
"This election is not just about who we want. It's about who we are," said Gov. Deval Patrick, who has endorsed Obama.
But in a startling dismissal of Patrick's best efforts, it appears most likely Democratic primary voters here are not Obama supporters.
Clinton has barracked up huge margins in every demographic category, leading Obama by more than 3 to 1 among the women who were more than 60 percent of this survey pool.
And here's an eye-popping result among staunchly anti-war Massachusetts Democrats: Among voters who cited the War in Iraq as the top issue for the next president, Clinton leads Obama 55 to 19, despite his perpetual criticism of her vote to authorize the war.
"Well, this is a great victory, the folks in Massachusetts, gave me my first key victory, of course," said Mitt Romney after his Michigan primary win.
But since he started running for president, Romney's popularity here has appeared to be in freefall. The Fast Track survey was taken the day after Romney's decisive Michigan victory, and nothing succeeds like success. And the Fast Track shows Romney dominating among the independent voters who were McCain's bread-and-butter here when he beat George Bush in 2000.
And here's one reason for that: immigration is proving a hot issue among many GOP primary voters. They have little use for McCain's more moderate position. Among those voters, Romney rolls up a stunning 6 to 1 margin.
The Massachusetts primary will be held on Feb. 5.
View the entire Fast Track Survey results:
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