More than 50 percent of New York voters say they will definitely vote to re-elect Senator Hillary Clinton next year and she is sporting substantial leads over her potential Republican rivals, a statewide poll reported Friday.

The Marist College Institute for Public Opinion poll also found most New York voters do not think Clinton, who other polls have as the front-runner for the 2008 Democratic presidential nomination, should pledge to serve her full six-year Senate term if re-elected.

Clinton, facing criticism as a "carpetbagger" because she had never lived in New York, made such a pledge when she first ran for the Senate in 2000 and her refusal to renew the pledge has provided some ammunition for her Republican rivals in election campaigns.

The Marist poll found 52 percent of registered voters said they would definitely vote to re-elect the former first lady while 32 percent said they would definitely vote against her.

Senator Clinton leads 59 percent to 35 percent against Jeanine Pirro, a high-profile district attorney at Westchester County, who announced on Aug. 8 that she would seek the Republican Senate nomination.

Clinton is also leading Manhattan lawyer Edward Cox, a son-in- law of the late President Richard Nixon 61 percent to 34 percent.

However, 52 percent of New York voters said they did not want Clinton to run for the White House in 2008 while 79 percent said that about Republican Governor George Pataki. Pataki is not seeking a fourth term next year, but is reportedly eyeing a run for the 2008 Republican presidential nomination.

Marist's telephone poll of 707 registered voters was conducted Sept. 26-27 and has a sampling error margin of plus or minus 4 percentage points.

Source: Xinhua