A brand new poll of registered Minnesota voters by SurveyUSA finds John McCain is the only Republican candidate who could beat Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama, if the presidential election were held today.

Smart Politics has discussed McCain’s viability against the Democrats across key battleground states throughout the past year, most recently in mid-December, when the Arizona Senator was still polling behind Rudy Giuliani, Mike Huckabee, and Mitt Romney (and sometimes Fred Thompson) in all national surveys. John Edwards has consistently been the most viable Democratic candidate against McCain, but his longshot odds to win the Democratic primary has prompted most pollsters to leave him off their matchup poll questions.

In Minnesota, McCain leads Hillary Clinton 49 to 45 percent and Barack Obama 49 to 42 percent in a survey of 550 registered voters (MoE +/- 4.3).

According to SurveyUSA Clinton and Obama would each easily defeat the other three primary Republican contenders if the election were held today:

Clinton 51—Giuliani 40
Clinton 51—Romney 40
Clinton 50—Huckabee 42

Obama 52—Giuliani 36
Obama 55—Romney 36
Obama 49—Huckabee 42

Posted in Minnesota

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