Republicans Like Obama or Edwards as Democratic Pick

Hillary Clinton may be a Democratic favorite, but if Republicans had to choose which Democratic candidate they'd like to see win the nomination, she wouldn't be the pick. In a new poll released today by the Pew Research Center, the two candidates who are closely following Clinton in the polls—Barack Obama and John Edwards—are more popular with GOP voters. Twenty-one percent of Republicans and Republican-leaning registered voters said they'd pick Obama to win the nomination, and 17 percent chose Edwards. Clinton came in third, with 11 percent.

A quarter of Democrats and Democratic-leaning respondents said they'd like to see Republican front-runner Rudy Giuliani win the GOP nomination, and 21 percent said they'd like to see moderate Republican John McCain on the general election ballot.

Libertarian-learning Republican candidate Ron Paul, whose campaign has recently brought in several million dollars online, garnered only 5 percent support from Democrats. His campaign is unique in its efforts to capture voters from both sides of the aisle by advertising online the deadlines in which prospective independent and Democratic voters can change their party registration to the GOP.

—Nikki Schwab