Clinton Slipping

A newly released Zogby poll indicates that Hillary Clinton lags against five Republicans in a hypothetical head-to-head match ups. This may indicate that Hillary has real electability problems.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – Democratic front-runner Hillary Clinton trails five top Republican presidential contenders in general election match-ups, a drop in support from this summer, according to a poll released on Monday.

Clinton's top Democratic rivals, Barack Obama and John Edwards, still lead Republicans in hypothetical match-ups ahead of the November 4, 2008, presidential election, the survey by Zogby Interactive showed.

Clinton, a New York senator who has been at the top of the Democratic pack in national polls in the 2008 race, trails Republican candidates Rudy Giuliani, Mitt Romney, Fred Thompson, John McCain and Mike Huckabee by three to five percentage points in the direct matches.

In July, Clinton narrowly led McCain, an Arizona senator, and held a five-point lead over former New York Mayor Giuliani, a six-point lead over former Tennessee Sen. Thompson and a 10-point lead over former Massachusetts Gov. Romney…..

….."The questions about her electability have always been there, but as we get close this suggests that is a problem," Zogby said.

This may become a real issue for Clinton in Iowa. If the core party members don't think she could win a general election, they might not be willing to support her. A loss in Iowa could be a problem for Hillary as the primaries start. I don't put a lot of faith in polls like this this far out from the Iowa caucus – and it is still a long way off in political time. But there does appear to be a downward trend in Hillary's polling pretty much across the board. That would appear to indicate that the slide is real and that she may well face serious problems when the voting actually starts.