Last updated at: (Beijing Time) Monday, December 23, 2002
Hillary Clinton Leads Democrats for 2004 Presidential Bid: Poll
With Al Gore out of the race, New York Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton would be the top choice of Democrats for the 2004 presidential nomination if she chooses to run, according to a new poll by CNN and Time magazine which was released Saturday.
With Al Gore out of the race, New York Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton would be the top choice of Democrats for the 2004 presidential nomination if she chooses to run, according to a new poll by CNN and Time magazine which was released Saturday.
About 30 percent of registered Democrats said they would support Clinton when asked whom they would support in a field thatincluded Hillary Clinton, compared with 13 percent each for Senator Joe Lieberman of Connecticut and Senator John Kerry of Massachusetts.
No other potential candidate broke out of single digits, while 14 percent said they were unsure.
The poll, with a margin of error of plus or minus 5 percentage points, was conducted Tuesday and Wednesday, after Gore's surprise announcement last Sunday that he would not seek the presidency in 2004.
Previous polls of Democrats had put Al Gore, the 2000 Democratic nominee, at the top among potential 2004 candidates.
Hillary Clinton, wife of former President Bill Clinton, has said she will not run for president in 2004.
When poll respondents were asked whom they would support if Clinton does not run, Lieberman and Kerry were each named by 16 percent, followed by House Minority Leader Dick Gephardt of Missouri at 10 percent, Senate Democratic Leader Tom Daschle of South Dakota at 9 percent and Senator John Edwards of North Carolina at 8 percent.