Poll: Clinton wins = 300 electoral votes

PRINCETON, N.J., May 28 (UPI) -- Sen. Hillary Clinton averages a 7-percentage point lead over Sen. John McCain in the 20 states where she claimed victory, a Gallup poll indicated Wednesday.

The Gallup Poll Daily hypothetical Clinton-McCain general election matchup showed Clinton leading McCain, the presumptive GOP nominee, by 50 percent to 43 percent.

In the states Clinton, D-N.Y., won, a hypothetical race between McCain and Sen. Barack Obama, D-Ill., was a virtual tie with McCain, R-Ariz., holding a 46 percent-to-45 percent lead.

In the 28 states and the District of Columbia where Obama has won a higher share of the popular vote than Clinton, Gallup pollsters found Obama and Clinton were statistically tied in how each fare against McCain in a mock general election.

Clinton's popular-vote victories include three big Electoral College states -- California, New and Texas. The win column also includes swing states Pennsylvania and Ohio and disputed primaries in Michigan and Florida. Pollsters said they found virtually no differences when removing results from Michigan and Florida, stripped of their Democratic convention delegates because they moved up their primaries.

Clinton's 20 states represent more than 300 Electoral College votes while Obama's 28 states and the District of Columbia represent 224 Electoral College votes, Gallup said.

Results are based on telephone interviews with 11,491 registered voters conducted May 12-25. For the total sample, the margin of error is 1 percentage point.