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COLUMBUS — U.S. Sen. Hillary Clinton of New York emerged Tuesday as the clear leader among Ohio voters in the 2008 presidential race.

The first 2007 Quinnipiac University Poll of Ohio voters showed Clinton, attempting to become the first woman to win the presidency, with a three-to-one lead over her closest rival among Democrats, Sen. Barack Obama of Illinois, for the party's nomination. She also had a "razor-thin" margin over all leading Republican candidates in head-to-head matchups.

Among Republicans, former New York City Mayor Rudolph Giuliani led Sen. John McCain of Arizona, 30-22 percent, with former U.S. House Speaker Newt Gingrich getting 11 percent and former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney, 4 percent.

"Those who say Sen. Hillary Clinton can't win the White House because she can't win a key swing state like Ohio might rethink their assumption," Peter Brown, assistant director of the Quinnipiac University Polling Institute, said in a press release. "While it's a long way – 21 months – to Election Day, these numbers indicate that at this point she is very competitive in Ohio."

Among the top tier of candidates, however, Clinton, wife of former President Clinton, also had the largest group of voters who didn't like her. She had a favorability rating of 49-38 percent, compared to a 35-12 percent rating for Obama and a 46-24 percent favorability rating for former U.S. Sen. John Edwards of North Carolina, the 2004 Democratic vice presidential candidate.

Giuliani had a 53-19 percent favorability rating, compared to 47-21 percent for McCain. Gingrich's favorability rating was 24-50 percent, with twice as many voters viewing him unfavorably as favorably.

In other poll results, voters overwhelmingly — 60-34 percent — opposed President Bush's decision to send approximately 22,000 additional U.S. military forces to Iraq. By a similar margin — 65-31 percent — voters disapproved of how Bush is handling the situation with Iraq.

On a third question concerning Iraq, 56 percent said going to war with Iraq was the wrong thing to do, compared to 37 percent who said it was the right thing. Asked to name the most important problem facing the country today, 44 percent picked the Iraq war, four times the 11 percent who picked the economy, the second place finisher.

Overall, 62 percent disapproved of how Bush is handling his job, compared to 34 percent who approved.

The poll by the Connecticut-based university interviewed 1,305 Ohio voters from Jan. 23-Jan. 28 with an overall margin of error of plus or minus 2.7 percentage points. The survey included 455 Republicans, with a margin of error of plus or minus 4.6 percentage points and 496 Democrats with a margin of error of plus or minus 4.4 percentage points.

Democrats

Former Vice President Al Gore – 6 percent

U.S. Sen. Joe Biden– 2 percent

Former U.S. Sen. John Edwards – 11 percent

New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson – 1 percent

Sen. Hillary Clinton – 38 percent

Sen. Barack Obama – 13 percent

U.S. Rep. Dennis Kucinich – 2 percent

Republicans

Former New York Mayor Rudolph Giuliani – 30 percent

U.S. Sen. John McCain – 22 percent

Former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney – 4 percent

Former U.S. House Speaker Newt Gingrich – 11 percent

U.S. Sen. Sam Brownback – 1 percent

U.S. Sen. Chuck Hagel – 1 percent

Former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee – 1 percent

General election matchups

Clinton vs. McCain, 46-42 percent

Clinton vs. Giuliani, 46-43 percent

Clinton vs. Romney, 52-31 percent

McCain vs. Obama, 41-38 percent

Edwards vs. McCain, 44-41 percent

Contact this reporter at (614) 224-1608 or whershey@DaytonDailyNews.com.