US:Hillary Clinton would comfortably defeat Republican frontrunner Rudy Giuliani if the presidential election were held today, winning in almost every region of the United States, including the traditionally conservative south, according to a poll by the non-partisan Pew Research Centre.
The poll comes as Ms Clinton nears the end of her worst week of the campaign so far, after her Democratic rivals moved on to the offensive in a debate, accusing her of being evasive and untrustworthy.
Of those polled, 51 per cent said they would vote for Ms Clinton if her opponent were Mr Giuliani, while only 43 per cent said they would support the former mayor of New York in such a contest.
The Pew poll, which interviewed almost twice as many potential voters as most polls, contains a further piece of bad news for Mr Giuliani, showing that 55 per cent of white evangelical Republicans would consider voting for a conservative third-party candidate if he becomes the Republican nominee.
A number of prominent conservative Christian leaders have said they will support a third-party candidate rather than back Mr Giuliani, who has a liberal record on abortion and gay rights.
Pew Research Centre president Andrew Kohut said that most national opinion trends favour a Democratic victory in next year's election.
"The public is unhappier with the nation's course and much more disapproving of President Bush than it was four years ago," he said.
"In turn, many more independent voters now lean Democratic, resulting in a wide 50-36 percentage point party affiliation advantage for the Democrats. Republicans trail the Democrats as the party of change and good governance to the same degree that they did prior to their defeat in the mid-term elections, in spite of rising discontent with the Democratic-led Congress."
Democrats are more motivated and enthusiastic about the election and Pew found that the issues of greatest concern to voters are likely to benefit the Democratic candidate.
"Along with Iraq, the economy, healthcare and education rate as the most important issues for voters. Compared with the 2004 presidential campaign, voters now place less importance on the issues that have helped foster Republican political unity - including terrorism, gay marriage and abortion," the report says.
Ms Clinton enjoys a clear advantage over Mr Giuliani among women voters, whereas his lead among male voters is slender. The two candidates poll evenly with voters who attend church at least once a week and among households with an income above $100,000.
The former first lady leads Mr Giuliani by 54 per cent to 44 per cent in the south, which would represent a major shift from recent elections.
The south was George Bush's strongest region in 2004, with almost six voters in 10 backing him over John Kerry.
With most media commentators agreeing Ms Clinton performed badly in Tuesday's debate, Barack Obama and John Edwards sought to gain advantage. Mr Obama has lost support in recent months, particularly among the better-educated, more liberal Democrats who were his strongest backers, many of whom have drifted towards Ms Clinton. With a campaign based on the promise of a new "politics of hope", however, Mr Obama is careful to avoid sounding too aggressive in his criticism of the frontrunner.
Mr Edwards, who is trailing a distant third in national polls and must win January's caucus in Iowa if he is to remain a contender, has no such inhibitions. He launched a new 60-second ad in Iowa, calling on Democrats to "show backbone" by choosing him over Ms Clinton. "It is time for our party, the Democratic Party, to show a little backbone, to have a little guts, to stand up for working men and women. If we are not their voice, they will never have a voice," he says.