SANTA CLARA COUNTY VOTERS STRONGLY FAVOR CLINTON, McCAIN IN NEW POLL

SURPRISING RESULTS IN SILICON VALLEY LEADERSHIP GROUP'S "PULSE" OF LIKELY VOTERS

Santa Clara County voters overwhelmingly favor Senators Hillary Clinton and John McCain in their parties' respective presidential primary election next month, according to a new poll conducted by the Silicon Valley Leadership Group and released today.

The survey of 800 registered voters likely to cast ballots this year, conducted January 10-14 by Sacramento-based pollster Jim Moore, showed support for Clinton at 43 percent, compared to 27 percent for Senator Barack Obama and 10 percent for Senator John Edwards in the Democratic race. The remaining 20 percent were divided between "no opinion" (13 percent) and "another candidate" (7 percent).

On the Republican side, McCain, at 32 percent, held a commanding 2-to-1 lead over former Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney, with 16 percent. Trailing in a tie for third were former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani and former Arkansas Governor Mike Huckabee, both with nine percent. "Another candidate" and "no opinion" split the remaining 34 percent equally.

The Leadership Group, a public policy organization representing 250 Silicon Valley employers, commissioned the poll as the "Silicon Valley Pulse," the first of what will be an annual survey of voters in the region. The sample has an accuracy rate of plus or minus 3.7 percent.

"As an organization dedicated to civic engagement and community dialogue on important issues, and with the presidential primary just around the corner, we felt it was important to put our fingertips on the wrist of public opinion," said Carl Guardino, CEO of the Leadership Group. "I'm happy to say the pulse of voters here is strong and opinionated."

Santa Clara County has some 677,000 registered voters, or about 32 percent of the 2.1 million total voters in San Francisco, Alameda, San Mateo and Santa Clara Counties.

Senator Clinton scored a whopping 69 percent approval rate among Hispanic voters in Santa Clara County, compared to nine percent for Obama and six percent for Edwards in that category. Women, men and all age groups in the poll also favored her, with women posting the biggest margin, 50 percent to 24 percent for Obama and nine percent for Edwards.

The 71-year-old McCain, meanwhile, was a surprising favorite among young voters in the county, with 38 percent of the support among 18-to-39-year-olds, while Romney and Huckabee each received 13 percent and Giuliani polled zero in that group.

In other results, McCain polled highest among women voters with 30 percent, ahead of Romney (11 percent), Giuliani (10 percent) and Huckabee (9 percent). Among Hispanics, Romney captured the most voters with 29 percent, compared with 14 percent each for McCain and Giuliani and zero for Huckabee. Among Asians, McCain again took the lead with 29 percent, against 21 percent for Huckabee, 14 percent for Giuliani and zero percent for Romney.

There was no breakdown for the preferences of black voters in the survey because they represent only two percent of the registered voters in the county and such results would be statistically invalid, according to pollster Moore.