Poll: Obama surges to double-digit lead

PRINCETON, N.J., May 20 (UPI) -- Groups usually supporting Hillary Clinton are gravitating to Barack Obama giving the U.S. presidential hopeful a double-digit lead, a Gallup poll indicates.

The movement of women, whites and the less educated helped boost Obama's lead over Clinton to a 16-point advantage, Tuesday's Gallup Poll Daily indicated, up from a 4-percentage point lead earlier in May.

Preference for the freshman U.S. senator from Illinois was widespread, pollsters for the Princeton, N.J., firm said, with the percentage favoring him increasing among most demographic categories of Democratic voters. His base -- men, 18- to 29-year-olds, college graduates and upper-income Democrats -- overwhelmingly support Obama by at least a 2-to-1 margin over Clinton, the former first lady and U.S. senator from New York.

Support for Clinton among some of her traditionally reliable support groups -- women, Easterners, whites, Hispanics and adults with no college education -- dropped below 50 percent, pollsters said. Women 50 years and older is the sole major demographic group supporting Clinton above 50 percent.

The Gallup Poll Daily interviewed 1,261 Democratic and Democratic-leaning voters Friday through Sunday and has a margin of error of plus or minus 3 percentage points.