In a sharp reversal from March, more Democrats believe Hillary Clinton is the stronger candidate against John McCain compared to Barack Obama, according to a poll conducted April 28-29 by Fox News/Opinion Dynamics. Forty-eight percent of Democrats say that, versus 38 percent who give Obama the better chance. In mid-March, Obama had led Clinton by 10 points on this score. The numbers may reflect the campaign stumbles Obama has had in recent weeks, prompting some Democrats to believe he is not ready for prime time in a general election contest. One finding of this poll (below) is that a large majority of voters across partisan lines believe that Obama has been hurt by the Jeremiah Wright controversy.

Democrats want Clinton to win the party’s nomination by a 44 percent to 41 percent over Obama with 8 percent saying “neither” and 7 percent “don’t know.” However, the margin of error for the Democratic sample is 5 percent. Statistically, it’s not much change from March when the numbers were Clinton by 40 percent to 38 percent. Clinton did, though, cut into Obama’s edge among independents. In mid-March he led Clinton 30 percent to 21 percent, with a big undecided, and now his lead is 33 percent to 30 percent.