Poll shows slippage for Clinton, Giuliani

NEW YORK, Dec. 4 (UPI) -- The leading presidential hopefuls for U.S. Democrats and Republicans kept their leads in a USA Today/Gallup poll, but both are experiencing losses in support.

With a month to go before Iowa caucuses launch the 2008 presidential primary season, support for Sen. Hillary Clinton, D-N.Y., fell to 39 percent among Democrats, which is an 11 percent decline in one month, the newspaper said.

Among Republicans, former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani's majority support fell to 25 percent, which is a 9-point fall in the past month, the poll showed.

In the Democratic race, Clinton leads Illinois Sen. Barack Obama 39 percent to 24 percent, while in second place for Republicans was former Arkansas governor Mike Huckabee, who jumped from fifth place to second place with 16 percent support.

The newspaper said the sudden hike for Huckabee could bode well for him in the future, as nearly half of Republicans polled had either not heard of him or hadn't yet formed an opinion about him.

The national telephone poll was taken Friday through Sunday of 425 Republicans and "leaning" Republicans and 494 Democrats and "leaning Democrats." The poll's margin of error was a half point, the newspaper said.