A new Gallup poll shows the top three announced Democratic presidential candidates beating the top three announced Republican candidates in a hypothetical 2008 contest.
All three Democrats win landslides over Mitt Romney; they win pretty comfortably against Rudy Giuliani; and win with small margins over John McCain.
The numbers:
Clinton 53%, Romney 40%
Obama 57%, Romney 36%
Edwards 61%, Romney 32%
Clinton 49%, McCain 46%
Obama 48%, McCain 46%
Edwards 50%, McCain 44%
Clinton 50%, Giuliani 46%
Obama 50%, Giuliani 45%
Edwards 50%, Guuliani 45%
That Edwards vs Romney number is quite impressive, but I think that is mainly due to the fact that Edwards was the V.P. nominee for the Democrats the last time around and that Romney still has yet to gain name recognition with ordinary Americans.
None the less, this is polling done a year-and-a-half before Election Day. These numbers will bounce back and forth, in some cases wildly, between now and next year.
