The Marist College-WNBC poll indicates a ticket featuring the Arizona senator and the U.S. secretary of state would upend a Democratic presidential ticket of Sens. Hillary Clinton of New York and Barack Obama of Illinois by 3 points, 49 percent to 46 percent, and an Obama-Clinton ticket by 5 points, 49 percent to 44 percent, the college said in a news release.

The poll comes just days after a leading Republican strategist suggested Rice is working behind the scenes to be on the ticket with McCain, the GOP presumptive nominee, despite Rice's statements to the contrary, CNN reported.

The Marist-WNBC poll indicated a close head-to-head race with either Democratic presidential nomination contender and McCain. Clinton has support from 48 percent of the respondents, compared with 46 percent for McCain. Obama receives support from 46 percent of the voters, while 48 percent said they favored McCain.

The survey interviewed 576 registered New York voters April 3-4 and has a sampling error of plus or minus 4 percentage points, the Poughkeepsie, N.Y., college said.