Former New York City mayor Rudy Giuliani is trailing in the race for the Republican presidential nomination even on his home turf of New York state, a new poll showed today.
The WNBC/Marist poll ahead of the February 5th primaries in New York showed 34 per cent of registered Republicans support John McCain, compared to 23 per cent for Mr Giuliani.
Among Republicans likely to vote, Mr McCain kept his 34 per cent support, while Mr Giuliani was tied in second place with Mitt Romney at 19 per cent.
Mr McCain's campaign has been boosted by wins in New Hampshire and South Carolina in the state-by-state race to pick the two candidates to contest the November 4th election to succeed President George W. Bush.
Mr Giuliani, whose once large lead in national polls has evaporated, largely bypassed early voting states and focused on Florida, which votes on January 29th.
As the former New York mayor who won national recognition in the aftermath of the September 11 attacks, Mr Giuliani would hope for a strong showing in New York. But the poll showed 46 per cent of registered Republicans in New York think Arizona Senator.
Mr McCain is the Republican most likely to beat the Democratic candidate in November. Nineteen percent saw former Massachusetts Govenor Romney as the most electable and 15 per cent picked Mr Giuliani as most electable.
Another local politician, New York Senator Hillary Clinton, appeared to be in a strong position ahead of the New York primary for the Democratic Party nomination.
The poll showed her with the support of 48 per cent of Democrats likely to vote in the primary, followed by Illinois Senator Barack Obama with 32 per cent. The survey of 1,467 New York state registered voters was conducted Jan. 15-17, and has a margin of error of plus or minus 3 per cent, the poll said. Neither party has established a clear front-runner, as the first major state-by-state battles produced multiple winners