New SurveyUSA poll shows Lunsford and Clinton holding KY leads

New figures from the New Jersey-based polling outfit SurveyUSA show Bruce Lunsford still holding a sizeable lead in the Kentucky Democratic Senate primary while Senator Hillary Clinton maintains a huge margin over Senator Barack Obama in the Commonwealth.

As the attention of the nation turns now to the Bluegrass state for its May 20 primary, Senator Clinton's margin over Obama sits at 34 points, according to the latest SurveyUSA/WHAS poll of 595 "likely voters."

Clinton collected 62 percent support among respondents to Obama's 28 percent.

The margin of her lead over Obama tops 30 points in every geographic region of the state except the Louisville area. There, Clinton holds a thirteen point lead over the Illinois Senator, 54 to 39 percent.

Clinton's lead in that region ballooned since the last poll, when she showed a lead of 49 to 42 percent in Louisville.

According to the poll, the New Yorker Senators' lead in Kentucky is just two points narrower than the margin she showed over Obama in the last SurveyUSA poll, conducted from April 26 to April 28. Then, she led Obama 63 to 27 percent.

The new Presidnetial poll was conducted from May 3 to May 5. It has a margin of error of plus or minus 4 percent.

Meanwhile, in the contentious Democratic Senate primary, Louisville businessman Bruce Lunsford garnered 41 percent support from 595 "likely voters" in the latest poll. Lunsford is down two points in total support since the last SurveyUSA measurement carried out from April 26 to April 28.

Lunsford's principal opponent - and sparring partner over the last few days - Greg Fischer crept up four points since the last poll to collect a total of 22 percent. Fischer is now left 19 points behind Lunsford with just under two weeks to go til the May 20 primary.

In the last primary poll from SurveyUSA, Lunsford's lead over Fischer was 25 points.

Fischer and Lunsford have been exchanging jabs over a series of accusations and both campaigns have been up with a series of different television advertisements in recent weeks.

Other candidates in the Senate primary field registered little movement since the last poll. Prospect physician did re-attain his race-high figure of 5 percent support. James Rice registered 3 percent in the poll, perennial candidate David Williams collected 5 percent, attorney Kenneth Stepp garnered 4 percen, and David Wylie got 5 percent.

The margin of error on the Senate survey is plus or minus 4.1 percent.

SurveyUSA utilizes pre-recorded voices and push-button response technology in its polls. The outfit qualifies respondents as "likely voters" by requiring respondents to rank themselves on a 1 to 10 scale as to how likely they are to vote in a particular race. SurveyUSA then filters out respondents who do not meet age or registration requirements for that race.