SOUTH BEND, Ind. (AP) — The race between Democratic presidential hopefuls Barack Obama and Hillary Rodham Clinton remains tight as Indiana’s May 6 primary nears, a new poll shows.

The poll for WSBT-TV in South Bend and the South Bend Tribune released Thursday found 48 percent support for Obama and 47 percent for Clinton. That is within the poll’s margin of error of plus or minus 5 percentage points.

Five percent were undecided or supported another candidate.

Rockville, Md.-based Research 2000 conducted the poll through telephone interviews of 400 likely Democratic primary voters on Wednesday and Thursday.

The results are little changed from a similar poll three weeks ago. That poll taken March 31-April 2 showed Clinton favored 49 percent to 47 percent, within the 5 percent margin of error.

“Neither candidate has a decisive advantage,” pollster Del Ali said. “Neither candidate has hit that 50 percent plus 1 plateau — the magic number to say it’s their race to lose.”

Both campaigns said they were encouraged by the results.

“I’m encouraged that both Senator Clinton and Senator Obama are coming into the final two weeks dead even for all practical purposes,” said Joe Hogsett, co-chairman of Clinton’s Indiana campaign.

“I think that it’s going to be real tight and every single vote will count,” Obama campaign spokesman Kevin Griffis said.

The poll also found presumptive Republican nominee John McCain leading either Democrat. It found McCain favored 51 percent to 43 percent in a matchup with Obama, and McCain ahead 52 percent to 41 percent when facing Clinton.

That was based on telephone interviews of 600 likely voters Monday through Thursday with a margin of error of 4 percentage points.

Among the likely Democratic primary voters survey on the Obama-Clinton race, Obama was leading among men 52 percent to 40 percent, while Clinton led among women 53 percent to 45 percent. White voters favored Clinton 53 percent to 42 percent and black voters supported Obama by a wide margin, 83 percent to 14 percent.

The economy was identified as the most important issue by 41 percent of the Democratic voters, followed by the Iraq war (24 percent) and health care costs (21 percent).

Posted 4/25/2008