Voters dilemna: Ideology vs. electability

NEW YORK, Nov. 14 (UPI) -- Many U.S. voters are torn between backing a presidential candidate they agree with vs. one who may be more electable, two New York Times/CBS News polls found.

The polls -- conducted in Iowa and New Hampshire -- found leading Democratic and Republican presidential hopefuls in close contests in Iowa, while Sen. Hillary Clinton, D-N.Y., and Mitt Romney -- the Republican former governor of Massachusetts -- held leads over their competitors in New Hampshire.

A significant number of Democratic voters in both states said they thought Clinton was more likely than Illinois Sen. Barack Obama or former North Carolina senator John Edwards to say what she thinks voters want to hear, rather than what she really means. However, they also said Clinton is the best prepared and most electable candidate in the Democratic field, the polls found.

The polls surveyed 1,210 Democratic and 782 Republican potential voters between Nov. 2 and Nov. 12.

The sampling error in Iowa was plus or minus four percent for Democrats and five percent for Republicans. The New Hampshire survey had a plus or minus five percent error for Democrats and six percent for Republicans.