Obama, McCain lead in Illinois

CHICAGO, Feb. 3 (UPI) -- Democrat Barack Obama and Republican John McCain have commanding leads in the polls ahead of Illinois' Tuesday presidential primaries, it was reported Sunday.

The Tribune/WGN-TV poll indicates Obama's chief rival, Sen. Hillary Clinton, has lost support among African-American voters in the Democratic race, while McCain, the Arizona senator, has seen his support from conservatives grow, the Chicago Tribune reported Sunday.

Obama, the junior senator from Illinois, had the support of 55 percent of likely Democratic primary voters in his home state. Clinton -- who represents New York but was born in Chicago, had 24 percent support.

On the Republican side, 43 percent of likely GOP primary voters in the state said they would support McCain. Former Gov. Mitt Romney of Massachusetts was polling 20 percent, while former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee had 15 percent and Texas Rep. Ron Paul had 4 percent support.

The race in Illinois is not sealed as 20 percent of Democrats and 17 percent of Republicans remain undecided heading into the primary, the newspaper reported.

The poll this week of 500 Republicans and 500 Democrats who planned to vote in the state's primary has an error margin of 4.4 percentage points.