Democrat Barack Obama (53 percent) leads Republican John McCain (30 percent) by a comfortable margin among Massachusetts voters, according to a poll released today by 7NEWS/Suffolk University. Just 3 percent selected Ralph Nader and 13 percent were undecided. Despite the Obama lead, 26 percent of Clinton supporters were undecided between a match-up of Democrat Obama and Republican McCain, while an additional 20 percent of Clinton supporters said they will vote for McCain come November. 

"The Bay State will be blue in November, despite this snapshot in time showing Hillary Clinton supporters still seeing red three days after her concession, and singing the blues," said David Paleologos, Director of the Political Research Center at Suffolk University in Boston (SUPRC). "While November is still five months off, with only 54 percent of Massachusetts' Clinton voters saying they'll vote for Obama, it portends unity problems in swing states where the margin is much closer."

The low 54 percent unity number jumps to 80 percent when Clinton voters were asked whether they would vote for Obama if Hillary Clinton were his running mate. A clear majority (56 percent) of all Democratic voters said that they believe Hillary Clinton wants to be Vice President while 31 percent said she did not. 

A majority of Obama voters (54 percent) feel their candidate is stronger without Hillary Clinton on the ticket. Among Obama voters, 55 percent did not think Obama should pick Clinton, while 31 percent did. However, 87 percent of Obama voters would still vote for Obama if Clinton were on the ticket, while 10 percent said they would not. 

A strong consensus of Obama voters (69 percent) said that he should offer Clinton a position in his cabinet while just 24 percent rejected the idea. 

Republican voters didn't think John McCain would pick Mitt Romney as his running mate. Just 38 percent indicated that McCain would pick the former Governor, while 44 percent said that he would not, and 17 percent were undecided. 

Added Paleologos, "For John McCain, the perceived Achilles heel - that he's too old to be President - seems to hold little weight with Massachusetts voters. Exactly 68 percent say that he is not too old while just 28 percent said that he is. Despite the good news for Barack Obama, 52 percent of all Massachusetts respondents said that race would be an issue in the November election while 44 percent said that it would not and 4 percent were undecided." 

Asked who would be the next president, 55 percent said Barack Obama, 29 percent said John McCain, and 14 percent were undecided. 

The 7NEWS/Suffolk University poll was conducted Sunday, June 8, 2008 through Tuesday, June 10, 2008. The margin of error on the study of 500 is +/- 4.40 percent at a 95 percent level of confidence. All respondents from the statewide survey were General Election voters in Massachusetts. Marginals and 130 pages of cross-tabulation data will be posted on the Suffolk University Political Research Center website on June 12, 2008. For more information, contact David Paleologos at 781-290-9310.