Hillary Clinton Campaign Press Release - New Penn Poll Memo

To: Interested Parties

From: Mark Penn, Chief Strategist

Date: Tuesday, December 11, 2007

Subject: New Penn Poll Memo

Two new national polls are out that show Hillary maintaining a strong national lead among Democrats and likely Democratic primary voters.

The ABC/Washington Post poll shows Hillary continuing to climb against Barack Obama and John Edwards to a 30 point lead. The CBS/NY Times poll gives Hillary a 17 point lead. The AP/IPSOS poll a few days earlier had a 22-point lead. It is typical for polls to vary, especially when polling primaries, but these margins are all way beyond the margin of error.

The ABC/Washington Post poll is particularly strong - showing how Hillary beats Obama and others on every single issue and almost every core attribute related to being president.

And these polls show that voters very much believe that Hillary is the most electable candidate out there. In the CBS/New York Times poll, 63% say Hillary Clinton has the best chance of winning the general election in November, compared with 14% for Barack Obama and 10% for John Edwards.

The ABC/Washington Post poll shows that there has been a big rise in concern about the economy (44% now say it is one of the two most important issues, up from 29% last month) and healthcare (27% say it is one of the two most important issues, up from 22% last month). Concern about the war is down from 45% to 37%, but the Iraq war remains the number two issue, and Hillary Clinton has a plan to end the war quickly and responsibly, and is the candidate voters trust most on Iraq (51%, compared with 26% or less for Obama and Edwards).

But the voters are also showing their concern about healthcare and the economy and these are issues where Hillary particularly shines with the voters. In the ABC/Washington Post poll, 60% said they trust Hillary Clinton most on healthcare, compared with 16% or less for Edwards and Obama, and 58% said they trust Hillary most on the economy, compared with 18% or less for Edwards and Obama. As voters focus on the growing importance of these issues, it in fact works to Hillary's advantage because those are issues where they see her as a very strong and experienced leader.