Only Obama Defeats all 2008 Republicans, Per New Zogby Poll

Barack Obama must be thrilled by the delectable Christmas stocking stuffer delivered to him by the latest Zogby poll: news that he's the only Democrat who can defeat all Republican presidential candidates in 2008.

Per the poll, John Edwards would defeat three of the top five Democrats, and Hillary Clinton would defeat only Mitt Romney and Fred Thompson.

The newly released Zogby International telephone poll, which was conducted from Dec 12-14 of 1,000 likely voters, yielded the following results:

Barack Obama

• Defeats Romney 53% to 35%
• Defeats Huckabee 47% to 42%
• Defeats Giuliani 48% to 39%
• Defeats McCain 47% to 43%
• Defeats Thompson 52% to 36%

John Edwards

• Defeats Romney 50% to 38%
• Defeats Huckabee 47% to 41%
• Is defeated by Giuliani 45% to 44%
• Is defeated by McCain 46% to 42%
• Defeats Thompson 51% to 35%

Hillary Clinton

• Defeats Romney 46% to 44%
• Is defeated by Huckabee 48% to 43%
• Is defeated by Giuliani 46% to 42%
• Is defeated by McCain 49% to 42%
• Defeats Thompson 48% to 42%

Judging solely based on these poll results, Hillary Clinton is the weakest Democratic candidate against possible Republican 2008 nominees for the White House race.

UPDATE ON Jan 4, 2008: also see Obama Soars to Iowa Victory, as Edwards, Clinton Adopt "Change" Motto.

McCain, Giuliani Strongest Against Democrats
Among Republicans, the strongest candidates are Rudy Giuliani and John McCain, who both would defeat Clinton and Edwards. Mike Huckabee would defeat only Hillary Clinton, and both Romney and Thompson would lose against any of the top Democrats.

Per Zogby, the clear leader among all 2008 presidential candidates is Sen. Barack Obama, who would defeat all five Republicans by a margin in excess of the 3.2% margin of error.

John McCain's results, though, are very, very close to the polling margin of error, which makes an Obama-McCain race almost a statistical dead heat.

And that should give Sen. Obama great food for thought as he briefly savors this delicious bon-bon from Santa Claus.

(Getty Images photos of Obama by Scott Morgan, and of Edwards and Clinton by Mark Hirsch)

Related Reading
2008 Presidential Primary Election Calendar (Political Current Events)
Cumulative Report Cards for Obama, Clinton and Edwards