PRINCETON, N.J., March 26 (UPI) -- Democrats would cross party lines and vote for presumptive GOP nominee John McCain if their preferred candidate is not the Democratic nominee, a poll indicated.
If McCain is matched against Sen. Barack Obama, D-Ill., 28 percent of respondents who back Sen. Hillary Clinton, D-N.Y., indicated they'd vote for McCain, the Gallup Poll said. If it's a Clinton-McCain match-up, 19 percent of Obama backers said they would cross over to McCain's camp.
The Princeton, N.J., polling company said it analyzed Democratic voters' responses to separate questions in March 7-22 Gallup Poll Daily election tracking. In each day's survey, respondents were asked for their general election preferences in McCain-Clinton and McCain-Obama contests. Democratic voters then were asked whom they support for their party's nomination.
Nearly all Democratic voters who said they support Obama as their party's nominee also said they would support him in the general election. But only 59 percent of Democratic voters who support Clinton say they would vote for Obama against McCain and 28 percent said they would.
Results are based on telephone interviews with 6,657 Democratic voters. The margin of error is plus or minus 2 percent.
