Poll: Giuliani, Clinton lead race

updated 12:29 p.m. ET Nov. 8, 2007

WASHINGTON - Sen. Hillary Clinton has maintained a 2-to-1 lead over her nearest rival despite fallout over last week's Democratic presidential debate, an Associated Press-Ipsos poll showed Thursday.

Among Republicans, Rudy Giuliani enjoyed a slight advantage over his closest competitor, according to the survey.

Clinton, the New York senator, was ahead of Sen. Barack Obama of Illinois 45 percent to 22 percent, about the same as her margin last month. John Edwards had 12 percent.

Post debate results
The survey was taken in the days after a televised Oct. 30 Democratic debate in which Clinton avoided giving specific answers to several questions, and her opponents repeatedly challenged her candor and character. She and her campaign initially intimated that her male foes were ganging up on the only female candidate, though she later attributed their aggressive tactics to her status as front-runner.

Brian Snyder / Reuters Republican presidential candidate Rudy Giuliani speaks at Saint Anselm College in Manchester, New Hampshire November 5, 2007.

On the GOP side, Giuliani, the former New York mayor, was ahead of Fred Thompson 29 percent to 19 percent. That was statistically about the same as the 27 percent to 23 percent advantage Giuliani held last month.

The survey showed a Republican race that remains competitive, with Giuliani so far not pulling away from the pack. Thompson, criticized for a slow-starting campaign, has yet to move beyond the one-fifth of GOP voters he has been able to attract so far.

Republicans remain static
Three other Republican candidates stayed roughly where they were a month ago. Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., had 13 percent, Mitt Romney had 12 percent and Mike Huckabee had 10 percent.

The poll involved telephone interviews with 1,001 adults conducted from Nov. 5-7 and had a margin of sampling error of plus or minus 3.1 percentage points. It included 474 Democrats for whom the margin of sampling error was plus or minus 4.5 points, and 361 Republicans for whom the margin of sampling error was plus or minus 5.2 percentage points.

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